


Sleep (A Frerard Fanfiction)

by imtheyoungestvolcano



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M, My First AO3 Post
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-10 15:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2031024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imtheyoungestvolcano/pseuds/imtheyoungestvolcano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard has had nightmares since he was very young- he’s been through literal hell, he’s seen people he loved dying, and have had friends and family killing him more times than he could count, and then he would wake up screaming and out of breath. On his 20th birthday, his nightmares continued- but a boy start to appear in them- a boy he’d never seen once in his life. This boy was Gerard’s idea of perfection, and he slowly start to fall in love with the boy he dreamt about. But one day, Gerard was given a choice that could change his nightmares and real life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! so, i've already posted this on wattpad (check it out here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/19286062-sleep-a-frerard-fanfiction) but i decided to post it on ao3 too! i will update on here everytime i update on wattpad so it doesn't really matter where you keep up with the story, because i will update at the same time. okay, anyway, here is the introduction, and i will post the rest just after i've posted this :)

Gerard had had nightmares since he was very young, but the first nightmare he could vividly remember was from he was 6. It was about zombies coming back to life and escaping from their graves. They chased him and his little brother Mikey (who, in his nightmare, was an exceptionally fast runner for a three year old). Gerard will never forget it- watching Mikey being torn to shreds and there was nothing that he could do about it. He then woke up, and screamed for Mikey, waking up not only his little brother and his parents, but a lot of their neighbours as well.

Since then, Gerard’s nightmares had ranged from seeing people he loved dying, or being killed by his own friends, or flames and hell and a lot of other things. All of them had made Gerard wake up, screaming for whoever had died or had killed him in his dreams, covered in sweat and gripping his bed sheets until his knuckles went white.

The only person he told his nightmares to was Mikey. His brother would always listen intently, whether he was half asleep or more interested in watching TV- Mikey would just stop what he was doing to listen to Gerard.

When it got _really_ bad- when Gerard just couldn’t take the nightmares anymore- he was 15. His brother suggested going to see a therapist, or something like that about it. So Gerard did. And for a few months it had worked, but then the nightmares came back, and Gerard just fell back into his old routine of waking up at about 2 a.m. and going to talk to Mikey about it.

Gerard finally got his first job at a convenience store when he was 19. He was saving up for an apartment so he could move out of his parents basement. And then, from there, he might be able to have more space to make more art. He worked long hours so he could get enough for the rent, and then took on another job at coffee store. Just before his 20th birthday, he’d saved up enough to afford a small apartment not too far away from Mikey and his parents. He moved in on his birthday, with the help of his friend Ray, and of course Mikey.

He climbed into bed that night, and he prayed for just one night without another nightmare. But nothing was that easy to get, and he dreamt about zombies chasing him, just like he had when he was 6. But this time, there was no Mikey beside him- but a boy, maybe 16 or 17 who was with him throughout it all. He was short- well, shorter than Gerard, and he never said a word, but just held onto Gerard’s hand. That night, Gerard didn't wake up screaming for anyone, because he had no idea who that boy was in his dream. And, for the first time ever, no one had died in his nightmare, save for the few zombies he managed to shoot.

Gerard couldn’t remember seeing that boy once in his life. When he got out of bed the next morning, he wondered if maybe he’d seen that boy somewhere- even if it was just on the street or who he’d served at either of his jobs. But he couldn't remember seeing the boy anywhere else but in his dream. He told Mikey, and Mikey was equally confused- it was rare that people could just make up an entire person themselves- especially as Gerard had described every little detail about the boy, like the way his hair was dark brown, but not black, just really, really dark brown, and that his eyes weren't exactly brown, but they weren't green either, but they were a sort of hazel colour that he couldn't really explain, and so on.

And Gerard just guessed it was just a one-off, but that was only until he woke up in the middle of the night the next time, after dreaming about almost being killed by Mikey and Ray. But the boy…he saved Gerard, and stayed with Gerard until he woke up. And then Gerard was alone in his bedroom, in his apartment. In the real world.

The next night it happened again. And again. And again. Not once did the boy speak, but he always saved Gerard, or stayed with him until he woke up. Sometimes Gerard just continued to sleep throughout the day, just so he could wake up and remember more things about the boy. He became almost obsessed with him- even if he was just a figment of Gerard’s imagination.

Weeks went by. The boy continued to change, and grow with Gerard- Gerard saw that he had a tattoo on the back of his neck (a pumpkin, which Gerard thought was cute, in some weird way), and his hair grew and grew, but then when Gerard had another nightmare one night, it was cut in a completely different style, short-ish and choppy, and Gerard decided that he really liked it.

Mikey could barely keep up with Gerard’s nightmares anymore. Sometimes he thought Gerard was just going completely bonkers, and imagining things, but he then realised that Gerard _was_ imagining things, because he was dreaming!

Gerard’s jobs were getting boring- by now, he was 21, and he was only earning just enough to pay for his apartment. Also, Ray’s friend, Bob Bryar, owned a comic book store not too far away from where Gerard lived, and Ray said that he could probably get Gerard a job there, if he wanted one, and Gerard would be earning as much as he did working his two jobs anyway. Gerard accepted the offer, quit his two jobs, and then almost straight away, went to work for Bob at his comic book store.


	2. Chapter 2

_Gerard couldn’t breathe. He gulped for air, but water just filled his mouth and his throat. His hands were grasping for something- anything- but they found nothing but water that stung his skin with how cold it was. He knew people were holding him down- but he didn’t know who. He tried one last time to gasp for air, but then he felt his heart start to slow down. He reached out for something again, as his eyes slid closed, but this time he didn’t grab something- someone grabbed him. He was hoisted out of the water, and pulled onto a boat- or at least what he guessed was a boat, because he felt the floor beneath him tip a little and even though he was still loosing consciousness, he could see nothing but water and the sky around him. He felt someone pull him up so he was sitting upright. His head lolled backwards, but he felt someone’s hand slip behind his head to stop him from hitting it on the side of the boat. Gerard forced himself to stay awake, and he opened his eyes a little more. He felt himself smile when he saw who it was that was on the boat with him- the boy whose name he didn’t know. The boy smiled back at him, and then took Gerard’s hand in his own. “Thank you.” Gerard whispered, his throat still extremely hoarse. The boy opened his mouth to say something and-_

Gerard’s eyes opened, and he was met with a small amount of light flooding into his bedroom through his curtains. He groaned, wishing that he hadn’t just woken up, because he would have given anything to hear the boys voice, if only once. He pulled his bed sheets further over his head, and rolled over onto his side, planning on going back to sleep- but he saw that it was already 7 a.m. and Bob would get pissed off if Gerard didn’t show up at work on time (which was 8 a.m.) again because for the past week Gerard had continuously shown up late (at around 9-10 a.m.). This was all because Gerard had fallen back asleep, into another nightmare, just so he could spend some more time with the boy who wasn’t real.

But today Gerard just pushed his bed sheets away, and climbed out of bed- he could see the boy again tonight in his nightmares, but for now he had to concentrate on the real world.

Gerard went into his tiny kitchen- which had just enough room for a refrigerator, an oven, a sink and a stove. He filled a bowl full of cereal and milk and walked back out into his living room. He sat down on the couch, spilling a bit of milk as he went, and cursing at himself for it. He ate his cereal in silence, not bothering to turn on the TV, because he was too busy thinking about the boy in his nightmares. When he finished his cereal, he put the bowl down on the table by the couch, and then went back into his bedroom to get dressed. Black jeans, a batman t-shirt and his favourite white converse. He didn’t even bother to brush his hair. It was already 7:45 a.m. by the time he left his apartment, went down the four flights of stairs and opened the door to get it outside.

Gerard walked the ten minutes or so it took to get to the comic book store, kicking a stone as he walked, and not really lifting his head up to look at anyone or anything.

When he pushed open the comic book store door, Bob was instantly in front of him, glaring down at Gerard, and Gerard looked at his watch, and saw that it was only 8:02 a.m. “Bob, I’m like, _really_ early.” Gerard sighed, and Bob rolled his eyes, and then turned around, and walked back over to the cash register. There wasn’t anyone in the store yet, but Gerard could see that Bob had already sorted out all of the comic books, and made sure they were in perfect order. Gerard took his place next to Bob, sitting on the spinny stool that he always mucked about on- well, at least until any customers came in.

Over the next few hours, only about four customers came in, and only one of them actually bought a comic book. Bob started playing some card game on the computer, and Gerard started reading a comic which he was sure he’d already read at least five times. Mikey came in just before they closed for lunch, and Gerard was quite happy to see his eighteen year old brother.

“Bob, you really need to play music in here, or something, dude,” Mikey said, jumping up and sitting on the counter, facing out towards the shop. “It’s really quiet and a little creepy.” Bob didn’t reply to Mikey- he just grunted, and continued to play his game.

Mikey hung out with Gerard and Bob a little longer, but then Pete Wentz (one of Mikey’s best friends, who was really annoying, most of the time- well, at least he seemed that way to Gerard) came into the store, and told Mikey that he and a few of their other friends were hanging out, and asked if he wanted to come.

“See you later Gee.” Mikey said to Gerard, and then waved at Bob, who grunted again.

Gerard and Bob then closed up for lunch, and Bob made Gerard go and pick up their lunch from this sandwich shop that Bob seemed to like but Gerard didn’t care that much for. They didn’t speak about much when they ate, but Bob was a cool guy so Gerard didn’t really feel that awkward in the moments of silence that they had. At 2 p.m., Gerard changed the sign on the door from ‘CLOSED’ to ‘OPEN’. More people started to come in, now, and so Gerard and Bob had more to do than to just lounge around and play games on the computer.

In fact, they’d sold so many comic books that Gerard had to go out back to re-stock some of the Marvel comics. He heard Bob speaking to someone, but assumed it was just probably Ray, who tended to come in in the afternoons because he worked at the music store across the road.

Gerard found the box he was looking for, grabbed a handful of the comics, and then made his way back into the store. Gerard had been right- it was Ray, but he looked pretty angry, and Gerard was surprised, because he’d never seen Ray angry. He’d seen him pissed off, but Ray looked like he wanted to punch someone.

“Ray, calm down.” Bob said, and Ray slammed his hands down onto the counter.

“He’s so…stupid! How can you mistake the word ‘tambourine’ for ‘pick’? Now we’re gonna have like…500 tambourines coming in. We don’t need any tambourines!” Ray’s face was completely flushed, and he looked like he was going to burst at any moment.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to-”

“He didn’t even fucking apologise! He just laughed and walked out back. Getting an intern was the worst idea Brian’s ever had.” Ray slammed his head down onto the counter, and sighed.

“What happened?” Gerard asked, walking over to Ray and Bob. Ray didn’t answer, but Bob just sighed, and folded his arms.

“Ray got a new intern.”

“Intern?”

“Brian didn’t think Ray could run the shop on his own so hired a kid to help out.”

“He’s awful,” Ray muttered into the counter. “His name’s Frank and all he does is mess about. Like, he’s not even a kid! He’d gotta be at least eighteen. Maybe seventeen- but whatever! He’s an asshole and I hate him.”

“Then just fire him?” Gerard said, and hopped up onto his stool.

Ray lifted his head up off of the counter, and looked at Gerard. “But then Brian will fire me!”

“Bring him over here tomorrow, and Gerard and I will give him a talking to.” Bob said, and Ray sighed.

“Sure. You guys can try, I mean, if he doesn’t rip up all of the comics first and, somewhere in the process, put you out of business.”

“I don’t think he’s that bad.” Bob said, and Ray laughed a little.

“You haven’t met him yet.” Ray said.

After that, Ray left. It was already getting quite late- it was already 5:30 and they usually closed at 6 anyway- so Bob said Gerard could just go home now, if he wanted to. Gerard thanked Bob, and then left the store, and made his way back home.


	3. Chapter 3

“Gee?” Mikey was standing beside his brother’s bed, desperately trying to wake him up. Well, it wasn’t desperate, it was just because he needed to tell him that 1) he needed to find a new place to hide the spare key to his apartment because under a mat that anyone could move (or trip over, in Mikey’s case) was not a good place to hide it and 2) Mikey was hungry and there wasn’t any food in Gerard’s kitchen.

“Gee? Dude, wake up.” Mikey nudged his brother, but Gerard’s eyebrows furrowed a little, and then he snored. Really loud.

Mikey rolled his eyes, and nudged his brother a little harder. Gerard just continued to snore. “ _C’mon_ , sleepyhead, you need to buy me some food.” Gerard rolled over, so he was facing away from his brother.

“Gee, I’m apologising now, because I know you’re gonna hate me after this, but-” Mikey pushed Gerard as hard as he could, and Gerard rolled over completely, and then he fell off of the bed with a loud thump.

Mikey heard Gerard take a huge intake of breath, and then saw Gerard slowly sit up. “Who’s there?” Gerard demanded, and Mikey couldn’t help but laugh at his brother. “Mikey?” Gerard asked, and Mikey continued to laugh. “Mikeyway, I hate you.”

“You look so stupid when you sleep. Has anyone told you that?” Mikey said, once he’d finished laughing.

“No, but thank you, for letting me know.”

Gerard stood up, and started to climb back into bed, but Mikey managed to (somehow) pull his brother to the side of the bed that Mikey was standing at, and make Gerard stand up.

“Mikey! It’s like-” Gerard turned to look at the clock. “Six-thirty a.m. Okay, not that I’m not glad that you’re ready to get to college early, but why are you awake at this time, and how the _fuck_ did you get in my apartment?”

“How about I explain everything to you whilst you drive me to somewhere that does really good food?” Mikey suggested, and Gerard frowned.

“I’m out of food?”

“Well, you weren’t, but I got hungry before I tried to wake you up and I ate some toast but there wasn’t much to eat so there’s like, one piece of bread left and a tiny bit of cereal.” Mikey said, and Gerard rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Fine. Whatever. Let me put some actual clothes on please!” Gerard said, and then pushed his brother out of his bedroom, and closed the door.

“Just hurry up or I might die!” Mikey shouted through the door.

-

“Okay, Mikeyway, where can I put the key then?” Gerard asked,

Mikey had told Gerard that he needed to put the spare key somewhere else, and they’d been arguing about it for the last five minutes whilst Gerard drove them to the fast food place Mikey wanted food from. “I don’t know! Just not under the mat. Also- get rid of the mat. I tripped over it.”

Gerard laughed at his brother, and Mikey folded his arms, and leant back in the car seat. Gerard rubbed his eyes with one hand, trying to still wake himself up a little, and kept the other hand on the wheel. Gerard then asked his brother why he’d come over to Gerard’s apartment, and Mikey just said that he’d crashed at Pete’s house and Pete’s parents wanted Mikey out because he was asleep on the sofa, and had also eaten a load of their food the night before. “Why do you eat so much?“ Gerard asked, and Mikey just shrugged.

They soon got to the fast food place, and they went through the drive-through. Once they got their food, it was already 7:30 a.m. “Do you want me to drop you off at college?” Gerard asked, once he and Mikey had finished their breakfasts. Mikey shook his head.

“I’m not going in today.” Mikey said, and Gerard glared at his brother.

“Yes you are.”

“ _No_ , I’m not. I don’t want to. Besides, I’m gonna be in a band so I don’t need college.”

Gerard laughed. “A band? Yeah, okay. Let’s take you to college.” Gerard put his seatbelt on, and started his car up, but Mikey just crossed his arms.

“I’m not gonna go. You can drop me off but I’m just gonna leave anyway.” Mikey said.

“Mikey. Just fucking go. Please.” Gerard asked. Mikey groaned, and then put his seatbelt on. Gerard started the car up, turned out of the parking lot, and started to drive to Mikey’s college.

-

After Gerard had dropped Mikey off, he drove straight to the comic book store, and got there at 7:59. Gerard pushed the door open, and grinned at Bob, who rolled his eyes at Gerard, and then continued to sort out the comic books. Gerard took his usual spot on the spinny stool, and flicked through the same comic that he’d read six times, now. “Hey Bob, have we got any new comics coming in?” Gerard asked, and Bob shrugged.

“You can go look out back. There might be a few new ones out there.”

Gerard did go out back, and searched around in the boxes, until he found a Batman comic that he actually hadn’t read yet. He had been looking a good twenty minutes, and had also heard the bell on the door go, which meant someone was already in the store, but probably nothing that Bob couldn’t handle on his own. Gerard decided to look for another comic to read later, so he didn’t have to come back out to find anymore. Gerard heard Ray speaking to Bob, and both him and Bob were talking to someone else. Gerard assumed that maybe it was the new intern. But if he was as bad as Ray had made out, then Gerard didn’t really want to go back into the store too early. He found a few comics that he decided that he wanted to read, put all the boxes back and then made his way back into the store.

“Hey- _excuse me_ , can you leave the comics alone?” Gerard heard Bob say, as he opened the door to go back into the store.

Gerard couldn’t see the intern, or Bob, because they were behind some racks of comics. Ray was sitting on Bob’s chair, his head in his hands. He turned around when he heard Gerard, though, and then sighed. “I bought Frank.” He said.

“I guessed.” Gerard laughed.

Bob walked around and came back to the counter. He looked really pissed off, and he rubbed his forehead, then patted Ray’s back, probably meaning ‘I feel so sorry for you’. Gerard laughed a little.

“Where is he now?” Gerard asked Bob.

“I have a name!” Gerard heard Frank call back.

“I know! Hi Frank, wherever you are!” Gerard replied, and heard Frank laugh loudly.

“Hi, person!” Frank said, and Gerard laughed.

“He doesn’t seem that bad.” Gerard whispered to Bob and Ray, and then heard a huge crash come from where Frank was.

“For fu-” Bob started.

“I’m on it.” Gerard said, put his comic books on the counter, and then walked over to where the crash had happened.

Gerard walked round the corner to where Frank was. “If you’ve broken anything valuable, you’re gonna have to-” Frank looked at Gerard, and then at the floor where a load of comic books were, and then back at Gerard.

Gerard was frozen on the spot. He felt like he was going to be sick. Frank looked at him, confused, and then back at the pile of comic books that he’d dropped were. “You-” Gerard started.

It was him. The same messy, dark brown hair, the same hazel eyes. The same height, the same nose, the same lips, the same nose and lip ring- the same everything. There was no denying that it was him. Because it was him.

It was the boy that was in Gerard’s dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

“Me? What about me? Is there something on my face?” Frank was frowning, scratching away at his face as he tried to get whatever was there off. But of course there was nothing. Gerard was still staring at him, however, which made Frank even more eager to get the thing off.

“Uh…uhm…no…no, there isn’t.” Gerard finally woke up from his daydream, and blinked a few times, trying to clear his head. This guy- Frank- was the person he was deeply in love with. And he was fucking real.

Gerard had to stop himself from reaching out and just touching Frank, just to see if he was real, and this wasn’t another one of his horrible nightmares. Gerard hadn’t noticed, but Frank was laughing at him now. “Woah, dude, stop staring at me, it’s real creepy.”

Gerard finally came back to Earth made eye contact with Frank. “Sorry man, you just look real familiar.” Gerard apologised, and Frank laughed again.

“Weird, but okay.” Frank pushed his way past Gerard, hopping over the pile of comics that he’d knocked on the floor previously. Gerard watched Frank’s every step, his heart hammering in his chest because fuck, Frank was really real.

Frank stopped by the door, and looked back at the counter where Bob and Ray were talking to each other. “Yo, Princess Fro-Fro, I’m gonna head back to the store.” Frank announced, assumingly to Ray, and then opened the door and left.

“Frank!” Ray yelled after him, but it was no use. “That little fucking-” Ray didn’t finish the end of his sentence, as he was already speeding away from the counter, and out the door to follow Frank.

Gerard was still staring at the door, but he managed to remind himself that there was huge pile of comic books right behind him that needed picking up and rearranging. He huffed, and then started picking the comic books up, attempting to put them back where they were supposed to be, even though he was still in a daze because of what just happened.

Bob came over barely a minute later, and helped Gerard put the comic books back. Once they were done, Bob turned to Gerard. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Gerard shrugged, looking down at the floor as he did so. “It’s something like that.”

-

“So you’re telling me…the guy you’ve been dreaming about for the last year…is real?” Mikey asked, and Gerard nodded.

Right now, the two way brother were sitting in their favourite coffee shopped, squashed into the little corner table that they always sat at. They were both sipping at coffees, and Mikey’s glasses were fogging up a little, which meant he had to keep on taking them off so he could wipe the steam away from the lenses.

“That can’t be true…Gee, are you sure you’re not just _imagining_ things?” Gerard, this time, shook his head at his brother.

“No, he’s real alright. His name is Frank and he’s like…eighteen, or something. He actually works with Ray as well.” Gerard leant back in his chair, trying to look as casual as possible, even though his heart was still beating super fast because of what had happened earlier.

“Y’know, for some strange, strange reason- I don’t believe you.” Mikey said, and then sipped his coffee.

“Why not?”

“Because for some unknown reason- this guy that you have never seen before you dreamt about him suddenly turns up in real life, and is an actual real person. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Gerard’s shoulders drop, and he looks down at his hands in his lap. “It’s weird. I know. But Mikey, I promise you- he was real, I mean- he’s still at the music store with Ray right now. I can show him to you, if you really don’t believe me.”

“Okay, show me your dream boy, then.” Mikey says. They both finish their coffees quickly, and then they quickly leave the coffee shop and head to Gerard’s car.

-

They pull up outside the music store less then five minutes later. Mikey is out of the car quicker than Gerard- partly because he doesn’t believe Gerard still and just wants to get Gerard’s humiliation over and done with as quick as possible, and also partly because Gerard is super nervous about seeing Frank again and so takes his time making sure his hair looks perfectly messy and his clothes look just about presentable.

Mikey pushes the music store door open. He’s immediately confronted with Ray’s hair, and he almost screams when he hears a huge smash coming from somewhere in the back. Ray quickly spins around and sees Mikey and Gerard looking extremely confused.

“Oh god, I’m so glad it’s you two. Frank just managed to break two guitars and a drum kit and I really don’t know what to do with him anymore.”

Mikey looked back at Gerard, who was blushing a little, because this was basically his Frank that Ray was talking about, and Frank had just managed to break a load of instruments.

Ray moved out of the way of the door so Mikey and Gerard could actually get inside. The actual store looked peaceful and tidy, but the noises coming from out back told another story. Mikey, Gerard and Ray watched as Frank, whose face was bright red, come back into the store, holding the neck of a guitar and a snare drum.

“I feel like I could make another instrument out of these two bits.” Frank laughed, and Gerard wanted to curl up into a ball and hibernate for the rest of his life because he had so much second-hand embarrassment now that it was quite painful.

“Oh my- Frank, you know what? Fuck you, Frank. That’s coming out of your pay check.” Ray said.

Frank smirked at Ray, and then dropped the two pieces he was holding onto the floor. “You don’t pay me anything anyway.”

“Mikey, meet Frank.” Gerard whispered to Mikey.

“Yeah, I know him.” Mikey said, and Gerard’s mouth almost hit the floor.

“What the-”

“Mikeyway!” Frank grinned, and Mikey smiled back a little.

“Hey man.” Mikey smiled.

“Y-you know each other?” Gerard stuttered. Ray, Frank and Mikey turned to look at Gerard.

“Uh, yeah. Frank and I went to college together. Emphasis on the went.” Mikey said.

“Extreme emphasis on the went.” Frank laughed.

“Oh-okay.” Gerard said, trying not to sound like he was completely breaking down inside because his brother knew Frank and Gerard had just happened to never hear about or see him before?

“You coming to Pete’s house on Saturday?” Mikey asked and Frank nodded.

“But if Mrs Wentz chucks us out again I’m crashing at your place.” Frank added.

Mikey and Frank spoke for a few minutes, with Ray and Gerard just watching them. Ray was amused that Mikey, Gerard’s cool younger brother, was actually friends with an idiot like Frank. Gerard, on the other hand, was dying inside. Mikey was friends with Frank. Good friends with Frank. And Gerard had never seen Frank before.

“Mikey, uhm, Mom wants too cook us dinner tonight I promised we’d be home before seven and it’s almost seven now okay lets go.” Gerard said, grabbing his younger brothers wrist and dragging him out of the store. Mikey waved goodbye to Ray and Frank before almost tripping over on the sidewalk.

“What the fuck, Mikey?! You knew Frank, and you just decided to not tell me that important piece of information?”

Mikey shrugged. “ I didn’t know you were talking about Frank Iero when you described the dude in your drea- oh man, you have a fucking crush on one of my friends. That’s creepy.”

“Its not creepy!” Gerard said, but Mikey started laughing obnoxiously loud. “Fuck you, Mikey!” Gerard groaned, and then climbed into his car.

“Super creepy.” Mikey muttered under his breath, and then followed his brother.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a week since Gerard had met Frank. And since that day, he just hasn’t been able to fall asleep properly. Every night, when he laid down in bed to go to sleep, he’d be laying there for a few hours before he even started to fall asleep. And when he did, he wouldn’t dream about anything- hell, he wouldn’t even have a nightmare!- and he’d wake up only ten or fifteen minutes after he’d actually gone to sleep.

He tried not drinking coffee before he went to bed. Yes, he knew that he wasn’t supposed to drink coffee before he went to bed anyway, but he loved coffee so much and just needed to drink it all the time. He started staring at the wall for as long as possible to make his eyes hurt a little so he’d want to go to sleep. But that didn’t work, and he’d just be in pain and not tired.

It wasn’t just that he couldn’t fall asleep, but he just couldn’t get Frank off of his mind. It was annoying, really. Sure, he was really in love with Frank, but every time he tried to think about something other than Frank, Frank would somehow worm his way back into Gerard’s brain and really fucking piss him off.

But it was not just his sleep patterns that were affected. People around Gerard started to become worried about him.

Bob was beginning to worry about Gerard. Like, _a lot_. Gerard had begun to come into work earlier and earlier, and then would start to fall asleep on the counter a few times during the day. Two days ago was probably when Bob saw Gerard at his worst- Gerard was sitting outside the comic book store, holding his eyes wide open and staring down at the sidewalk. Bob asked him how long he’d been sitting there. Gerard shrugged. “Since like, 6 a.m. I think. I can’t really remember.”

“Have you even slept? Like, at all?” Bob asked, holding a hand out for Gerard.

Gerard took Bob’s hand, and let Bob haul him up. Gerard almost fell onto Bob, but regained his balance by leaning on Bob’s shoulder. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

Mikey came into the store just before lunch. Bob had gone out to get his and Gerard’s lunch as he didn’t trust Gerard to not fall asleep on the way there and pass out on the sidewalk. When Mikey walked in, however, he was met with his brothers head on the counter, and Gerard wasn’t moving at all.

“Gee?” Mikey asked, his heart thumping in his chest because, ohmygod, Gerard is dead and- Mikey managed to breathe when he heard an obnoxiously loud snore, and he leant up against one of the comic book stands, and started laughing at himself.

Gerard almost fell out of his chair when he heard Mikey laugh. He managed to grab hold of the counter somehow, and brace himself on his chair.

“Sorry, dude, did I wake you up?” Mikey asks.

“Yes- fuck you, yes you did. I almost had a heart attack.” Gerard breathes.

“I thought you were dead. I think I win this round.” Mikey says, and walks over to the counter, which Gerard is still gripping onto.

“Man, it feels like I’m dead.” Gerard huffs, and rests his head in his hands.

Mikey raised his eyebrow at his brother. “What d’you mean?”

“I haven’t slept in like, a week. I mean, I have, a little, but not properly, y’know?” Gerard says, and Mikey leans on the counter.

“Why haven’t you been sleeping?” Mikey asks, and Gerard huffs again.

“I don’t know, I mean- I keep on- like, thinking about Frank, and-”

“You’re not sleeping because of Frank?” Mikey asks, trying to hold back his laughter, because his brother is crushing on one of his best friends, for fucks sake. Gerard glares at him, and then nods.

“Yes. Because whenever I try to sleep I think about him, and then when I do manage to sleep, I can’t fucking dream of anything and I wake up.”

“Weird.” Mikey says.

“Yeah.” Gerard agrees.

Bob arrives back at the store with his and Gerard’s lunch, and Gerard thanks him and then Mikey leaves when Pete arrives and asks if he wants to hang out (again).

Bob starts asking Gerard a load of questions- is there something he’s worried about? Why isn’t he sleeping? Is he secretly a spy and that’s why he’s out all night? Gerard says no, it doesn’t matter, and Bob you’re an idiot. Bob just rolls his eyes, and just says: “I’m just making sure you’re not gonna go all James Bond on my ass because you mistake me for a conman or something.”

At around 3- or something like that, because Gerard isn’t really paying attention to the time- Ray and Frank drop by. Gerard wants to just go to the back of the store and hide there until they leave because he doesn’t want to see Frank’s face anymore than he has to.

But Frank is grinning and Gerard’s stomach does somersaults because Frank is _gorgeous_ , and he wonders why he didn’t want to look at Frank’s face, and realises that, oh yeah, Frank is making him have sleepless nights because he can’t stop thinking about him.

Frank smiles at Gerard, and Gerard thinks he’s gonna pass out, but he casually (okay, not really, because he knocks like, 3 comics off) leans against the counter, and smiles back. Gerard notices that Ray doesn’t actually seem that pissed off today, which means Frank hasn’t done anything wrong, which is good news.

Ray strikes up a conversation with Bob, but Gerard doesn’t really listen to what it’s about because holy shit, Frank is standing right in front of him, like, barely five inches away from him. Gerard mentally slaps himself because he sounds like a stupid teenager who is crushing on someone that they’re probably never gonna get with anyway.

“You still mad about me not helping you with those comic books last week?” Frank asks, and Gerard nods.

“Yes, of course I’m still pretty pissed that you didn’t stay to help me.”

Frank laughs, and Gerard has to concentrate on standing up because, no joke, his knees go weak. “I’m an asshole like that. Also, I didn’t mean to do it. And it’s _your_ store. _You_ tidy up after the customers.”

“It’s not actually my store. It’s Bob’s,” Gerard says. “And you didn’t even buy anything, which means you aren’t a customer. Technically.”

“Fine, I’ll buy…” Frank looks around quickly, before picking up a comic. The comic that Gerard’s read way too many times. “This.”

Gerard raises his eyebrow, but takes the comic when Frank hands it too him, and he’s really glad that their hands didn’t brush because he definitely would have passed out.

Frank hands Gerard a five dollar bill, and Gerard doesn’t say that the comic is actually $6, but he gives the comic back to Frank anyway. “Now that I’m a customer, you have to forgive me.” Frank says, and Gerard laughs.

“Alright. I forgive you. But next time, try not to knock any comic books over?” Gerard asks.

“I can’t promise anything, sweetheart.” Frank says, and Gerard’s face goes fire engine red, because Frank just called him sweetheart. Is it just him, or is there a possibility that Frank is _flirting with him_?

Gerard starts to reply, but he’s cut off by Smashing Pumpkins coming out of Frank, somewhere. Frank reaches into his pocket, and pulls out his phone. “Hello?” He says. “Huh?… _Really_?…For how long?…Awesome….Yeah…Okay, love you too…No, love you more….Okay, sweetheart, seeya at four. Okay, bye, yeah, love you too.”

Gerard watches as Frank puts his phone back in his pocket. “Who was that?” He asks, because Gerard is nosy, especially because his Frank just said ‘I love you’ to someone that wasn’t him, like, three times.

“Oh! Uhm, my girlfriend Jamia. Her parents are out of town this weekend!” Frank grins, and Gerard’s stomach drops, and his heart doesn’t even break, it shatters, into a million tiny pieces, because of course, Frank has a girlfriend who is probably beautiful and Frank is obviously in love with her. And, oh, that means another thing: Frank is straight.

“Oh.” Gerard says, because that’s all he can say right now.

“Yo, Fro-Fro, mind if I take off early?” Frank asks, and before Ray can even reply, he’s smiling. “Okay thanks! Seeya later, Gerard.” Frank says, and then jogs out of the store.

“If there’s gonna be someone worth going to prison for murder for, it’s gonna be him.” Ray says.

“You won’t murder anyone, Ray?” Bob says, but it comes out as more of a question, because he’s worried that Ray _might_ just end up killing Frank.

“No.” Ray says, and Bob sighs in relief.

Gerard sinks back into his seat, and then looks to where his comic that he sold Frank was supposed to be. Why had he even dreamt about Frank in the first place? He really wishes he hadn’t. But more than that- he wishes that Frank didn’t have a girlfriend.


	6. Chapter 6

_“Mikey!” Gerard sobbed. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he strained against the ropes that kept him handcuffed to the creaky wooden chair he was sitting on. He squirmed, but for some reason, that just made the cuffs tighter, and he heard Mikey laugh._

_“Is my big brother in a sticky situation?” Mikey asked, and Gerard strained against the cuffs again, but stopped when he felt them tighten even more._

_“Mikey-please…” Gerard begged, and Mikey laughed again. Mikey walked over to the metal table that wasn’t too far away from where he and Gerard both were. The table was completely covered in knives and guns and different tools Gerard had never seen before. Mikey smirked down at the table, and then picked up a small knife- no bigger than his palm- and twirled it around in his hands._

_“You know,” Mikey said, looking back at Gerard. “I could kill you, right here, right now.” Gerard squirmed again, and felt the rope cutting into his wrists._

_“You won’t! You’d never.” Gerard said, and Mikey rolled his eyes._

_“You don’t know me, big brother. You don’t really know how much I hate you.” Mikey put the small knife back down onto the table, and picked up a machete._

_“You don’t hate me! I practically raised you, Mikes!” Gerard whimpered, and Mikey pointed the machete at Gerard- straight towards Gerard’s heart._

_“You make me sick.” He muttered, and pressed the machete onto Gerard’s skin, just lightly enough so it wouldn’t pierce through._

_“M-Mikey,” Gerard whispered, and Mikey started to push against the machete a little harder. Gerard felt the machete cut into his skin, and he gasped. “Mikey STOP!” Gerard begged, and Mikey laughed, and pushed the machete in even more. Gerard squeezed his eyes closed, and waited for Mikey to just kill him. He wanted to cry, but he knew better than that, and so just thought about anything other than the fact that he was being killed by his brother._

_However, he opened his eyes, when he heard the door to the room open, and, for the first time in a week, the dream boy - Frank - burst in._

_“NO!” Mikey shouted, and Frank practically growled, grabbing the machete out of Mikey’s hands and throwing it onto the floor. Frank pushed Mikey away, and when Gerard next blinked, his brother had completely disappeared. Frank walked around to the back of Gerard‘s chair, and started to untie the ropes that were keeping him there._

_“Thank you- thank you so much.” Gerard said, and Frank smiled at him._

_“It’s no problem at all.” Frank said, and Gerard almost fell out of his chair._

_“Y-you spoke?” Frank nodded, and smiled again._

_“Well of course. Now that you know my voice…” Gerard felt the corners of his mouth turn upwards, but they dropped back down again._

_“You haven’t saved me…for a week. Where did you go? What happened?” Gerard asked._

_“I don’t know. I just couldn’t help you. I’m sorry. But I’m back now. I’m sure of it. I’ll be here forever, yeah?” Frank said, and Gerard nodded. “And now I can finally tell you that I-”_

Gerard’s eyes opened, and he blinked a few times. He saw sunlight creeping through under his curtains, and he saw that the time on the clock was 9:00 a.m.

He gasped, and quickly jumped off of the bed. This was the first time he’d been late to work in a week, and Bob was going to kill him, he was sure of it. He didn’t even bother showering or eating- he just pulled on a t-shirt and jeans and socks, ruffled his hair so it looked casually messy, pulled on his white sneakers, grabbed his phone and keys and a hoodie, and left his apartment.

-

“Bob, Bob, I’m so sorry I’m late, I’m-” Gerard said as he ran into the comic book store, his face bright red from running for ten minutes to get to the store. Bob was sitting at the counter, and Ray was there too, but Frank was literally skipping around the store.

They all turned around to look at Gerard, and Bob rolled his eyes at Gerard. “Why are you so late, Gerard?” Bob asked.

“I slept. Like I actually fucking slept. I went to bed at eleven and I woke up at nine and-”

“You slept?” Bob raised his eyebrows, and when Gerard walked around the counter, he clapped him on the back. “How d’you feel now? You feel like you’re gonna fall asleep at work again?” Bob asked, and Gerard shook his head.

“No. I don’t think so.” He laughed.

Frank skipped up to the counter, and leant on it in front of Gerard. “You haven’t been sleeping?” Frank asked, and Gerard shook his head. “Y’shoulda called me. I could’a helped you with that.” Frank winked, and Gerard’s cheeks heated up.

“Haha, Frank, very funny.” Gerard rolled his eyes, and he saw Bob and Ray share a look, which he’d shared with Mikey many times before, because it was called the _we know somethings up with you but we’re just gonna keep it to ourselves_ look- yeah, the name wasn’t very catchy, but that was the only way to describe it.

“I was being serious,” Frank said, and Gerard opened his mouth, because he was going to say something stupid, like ‘I’ll take you up on that offer, then’, but Frank just laughed. “I’m kidding. I wasn’t being serious. _Maybe_.” Frank winked again, and then went back to all the comic books, which looked like they’d been messed up, probably by Frank himself.

-

“Mikey, _no_ ,” Gerard said to his brother, who was sitting across the couch from him, still staring at the Batman film he’d decided to put on. “You are not inviting Frank round here. Whether he likes Star Wars or not, and whether or not he’s your friend, and whether or not there is a possibility I have a crush on him- _no_.”

“Gerard, listen to me- all you have to do is buy some beer and a couple of pizzas, let him watch Star Wars and **BAM**! He’ll be putty in your hands.”

“But I don’t want him to be putty in my hands. He has a girlfriend, for fucks sake.”

“Oh, yeah. Whatever, don’t you want to date him anyway?” Mikey asked, and Gerard shrugs.

“Well, yeah. Course. But that doesn’t matter. He loves Jamia. So I’m sure he doesn’t wanna break up with her anytime soon.”

“C’mon, Gee. I don’t think you just start dreaming about someone you’ve never seen in your life, and then meet them, without that meaning _something_.” Gerard looks down in his lap, and sighs. Mikey is probably right.

“Okay, fine. Whatever. Invite him round here then. But only for beer, pizza and Star Wars. Nothing else.”

“Fine. Nothing else,” Mikey agrees. “ _But I will make it happen_.” Mikey whispers the last part.

“Huh?” Gerard asks, as he couldn’t hear his brother over the sound of the film.

“Nothing, nothing,” Mikey says. “ _Nothing yet, anyway_.” Mikey says to himself, and is half tempted to change his name to Loki because he is such a trickster.


	7. Chapter 7

It was now Saturday, which was Gerard’s day off. And also the day when Mikey and Pete would come round his house for the Star Wars marathon. Gerard had woken up at 10, after a good nights sleep (if having a nightmare about almost being killed by a werewolf and then being saved by Frank counted as a good nights sleep, then yes, it was great). Mikey had left at least ten texts on Gerard’s phone reminding him that it was today that he and Frank were coming round, and he better have enough beer and pizza, and oh, also get some more, because Pete was going to come too.

“Fuck you, Mikey.” Gerard rolled his eyes at his brother, because of course he was going to invite Pete. And now Gerard was going to have to spend more money because Mikey had more friends than him. Great. 

Gerard drove to the supermarket, which was just down the road from where he lived, but he couldn’t be bothered to walk, and anyway, he didn’t really wanna be carrying like, four bags worth of beers back when he could just put them in his car and only have to carry them upstairs to his apartment. 

Mikey texted him again, and asked if he could or should invite Ray and Bob as well, and Gerard just replied with ‘whatever, lets just make this a fucking party- hell invite everyone!’ but then told his brother that the last part of the text was joke because he really didn’t want everyone in his apartment, and he knew Mikey would probably take him seriously. 

When Gerard got back home, he shoved as many beers in his fridge as he could, and then put the rest in a bucket with a load of ice in it, because his fridge wasn’t actually big enough, and he soon realised that he might have just bought too many beers, because there was only going to be six of them and he hoped no one was planning on getting drunk because he only had one bedroom and he was sure that five people weren’t going to fit on the couch in the living room.

For once, Gerard decided to make himself look presentable. He washed his hair, got changed into a pair of skinny jeans and one of his favourite Maiden t-shirts, and then sat on the couch, waiting for people to turn up. Only then did he realise it was only four p.m. and nobody was coming over until at least seven. 

Gerard groaned, because now he had three hours of doing nothing and he thought about maybe making Mikey come over early but then he knew Mikey would bring Pete and Frank and Pete would probably try and drink him out of beers before anyone had even finished drinking their first one, and that would either end in everyone leaving, everyone being pissed off, or, worst case scenario, Pete puking on the floor like he did that one time to the carpet in his parents living room. 

So Gerard just grabbed his sketchpad, and drew anything he could think of- he thought about sketching up a quick character, or sketching the really pretty girl- Lindsey, he thought her name was- who always came into the comic book store every other day, but then he settled on drawing the one thing he could never get out of his mind- Frank. 

- 

Gerard opened his eyes when he heard a few knocks at his door, and then Mikey shouting something that he couldn’t hear properly. He rubbed his eyes, and frowned, because it was only four and Mikey wasn’t supposed to be here for three hours yet. 

“Are you gonna fucking open up, Gerard?” Frank shouted, and Gerard frowned again. He looked at his watch, and-  _oh shit_. Had he fallen asleep? It was 7:30 p.m. How was that even possible? Now that he thought about it, he did have a vague memory of Frank saving him from a fire in his apartment, and he was sure that hadn’t actually happened in real life…

“ _C’mon_  Gerard! I want a beer!” Pete shouted, and Gerard quickly woke up from his daze, and jumped up off the couch. Luckily, he noticed his sketch pad on the couch, on which he’d started to draw Frank. But he couldn’t just leave it there, because it was obvious that he’d been drawing Frank, so Gerard just threw it under the couch, and hoped that he’d remembered where he’d put it later. 

When he opened the door, Mikey and Pete pushed past him, and assumingly went straight into Gerard’s kitchen to raid his fridge. So, it was just Frank left at the door. Great. 

And if Gerard thought he was going to have a hard time not crushing even harder on Frank today, well, now it was going to be almost impossible. Frank wasn’t wearing his usual white t-shirt and black jeans that he wore at the music store, but he was wearing a fucking star wars t-shirt and ripped jeans, and was that  _eyeliner_?  _Thanks Frank_ , Gerard thought,  _don’t make this any easier for me, then._

“Hey,” Frank smiled at Gerard, and then he handed the comic he’d bought the other day- the comic Gerard always read- back to Gerard. “I believe that belongs to you.” 

“Huh? You bought it, that means its yours.” Gerard said, and Frank shrugged.

“Mikey saw that I had it and told me that you loved it so much. So- well, it belongs to you again, now.” 

“Oh, wow, thanks.” Gerard smiled, and he could have sworn Frank blushed a little. Probably not. Gerard was probably just imagining things, as usual. 

Gerard side-stepped so Frank could actually come into his apartment. Gerard then shut the door behind Frank, and turned around to tell Frank to just go straight into the living room or kitchen, but it seemed that Frank already guessed Gerard was going to say that, as he was already making himself comfy on the couch when Gerard walked it. 

“Mikey, when are Ray and Bob gonna get here?” Gerard called out to his brother, as he stood in the living room, trying not to stare at Frank who was completely stretched out on his couch. 

“Uhhh…” Gerard heard clattering coming from the kitchen, and Mikey muttering ‘ _shit_ ’ under his breath, and Gerard hoped that he’d just knocked a few beers out of the fridge because otherwise, he was going to kill his brother. “In like…uh…I don’t really know.”

“Mikey could you pay more attention to me than to the beers please.” Gerard asked, and then both Mikey and Pete walked in with at least ten beers between them, and the beers in the bucket as well. 

“Sorry dude. What was the question?” Mikey asked, and Gerard sighed. 

“I asked you when Bob and Ray are gonna get here.” Gerard repeated. 

“At eight, I think. Probably.” Mikey answered.

“Helpful. Thanks, Mikey.” Gerard laughed, because that wasn’t actually helpful at all. 

“No problem.” Mikey said, not even half-sarcastically, because he was too busy cracking open a few beers for him, Pete and Frank. Mikey then handed them out, and squashed himself up on the end of the couch, and then Pete sat down next to him. Gerard sighed, because now there was no where for him to sit. He started to sit down on the floor, but then Frank squashed up against Pete, and patted the space next to him.

Gerard blushed, and mentally scolded himself for that, but then sat down next to Frank. Mikey grabbed the TV remote and turned the TV on. “Ugh, Gee, did you not put Star Wars on yet or…”

“No Mikey, I didn’t actually think that far ahead because I was buying you guys a million beers at the store earlier.” Gerard said, and Frank snorted into his drink. What Frank found funny about what Gerard just said, Gerard would never know, but hey, he’d made Frank laugh, and that made Gerard really happy. 

They all sort of looked at each other for a few seconds, before Gerard sighed, and grabbed the Star Wars box, and put the disc into the TV. “Happy now, Michael?” Gerard asked, and Mikey rolled his eyes, and then nodded. Gerard was just about to sit back down, but there was another knock at his door.

He walked out to the front door, and then opened it, and saw Ray and Bob, who he’d expected to be there. “Hey guys, come in, take a beer if you want one.” Gerard said, and Ray and Bob thanked him, before closing the door behind them.

Gerard went to sit back down next to Frank, but then Frank put his legs over Gerard’s and made himself really comfy, almost on Gerard’s lap, and Gerard really wanted to cry right now. 

They watched the movie, but halfway through, Mikey started to complain that he was really hungry, and then Pete joined in, and then Frank joined in, and Gerard could probably never say no to Frank, and so grabbed his phone from his pocket, and dialled the pizza place. 

By half eight, they were stuffing themselves with pizza (Mikey and Pete had already managed to eat one pizza, and were already working their way through their second one). Gerard and Frank just had a margherita pizza between them, because neither of them ate meat and so it just made sense that they shared one, and Bob and Ray were eating their own pizza’s on the floor next to the couch. 

Gerard almost screamed (he wasn’t even exaggerating) when he and Frank both reached for the last slice of pizza in their box. Their hands both touched, even if it was for a second, and Gerard pulled his hand away as quick as possible. 

“Oh!” Frank said, a little shocked at what had happened, even though it wasn’t really a big deal. “Here, you take it.” Frank said, and Gerard shook his head.

“It’s yours, you have it.” He said, and Frank rolled his eyes,

“Split it?” Frank asked, and Gerard nodded. Gerard saw out the corner of his eye that Mikey was watching him and Frank. Mikey smirked at Gerard, and Gerard sent him an evil glare, which made Mikey smirk again, but then turned his attention back to the TV. 

-

By 11, Pete, Mikey and Frank were  _really fucking drunk_. Bob, Ray and Gerard had given up on watching the film because Pete, Mikey and Frank were whispering and giggling over the film too loud for them to concentrate. 

Frank was almost completely laid over Gerard now. He had his head on the arm of the couch, and was practically laying in Gerard’s lap. Gerard was looking anywhere but at Frank, because he knew Frank was smiling up at him, and Gerard just couldn’t face Frank’s smile right now. 

“Well, uh, Gee, thanks for having us!” Ray said, and he and Bob got up off of the floor. Gerard’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head.

“No no no, you are not leaving me with a bunch of drunk teenagers- oh my god, Bob, Ray, don’t you fucking dare leave!” Gerard begged, but Bob and Ray just both said goodbye, and left his apartment. 

“ _Fuck_.” Gerard muttered.

“So…d’you think Meagan likes me?” Pete slurred.

“I don’t know, man. Maybe.” Mikey replied, and Pete laughed.

“Hope so. I really like her, y’know?” 

“I know man, I know.” Mikey patted Pete’s shoulder and then passed out on the couch.

“Haha, Mikey, I’m not that boring.” Pete laughed, and then passed out as well. 

“That was easier than I thought.” Gerard whispered to himself.

“I’m still here, sweetheart.” Frank said to Gerard, and Gerard made the fatal mistake of looking down at Frank, who was grinning at him.

“Oh…yeah. Well, you need to be going to sleep, mister. It’s late.” Gerard said.

“Whaaattt?” Frank said, and then grabbed Gerard’s wrist, so he could look at his watch.

“But it’s only… _woah_ …” Frank whispered, staring at Gerard’s watch. After that, he pushed Gerard’s wrist away, and then sat up, and almost fell off of the couch.

“Yeah, time to go to bed, Frank.” Gerard said, and Frank groaned, and gripped onto his head.

“My head hurts though.” Frank whined, and Gerard rolled his eyes. Gerard stood up, and then was about to make Frank lay down on the couch as well, but Pete flopped down, and filled up the space behind Frank and where Gerard had been sitting. 

“Aw crap.” Gerard sighed, and then Frank gripped onto Gerard’s bicep and pulled himself up off of the couch. 

“Where’m I gonna sleep, Gee?” Frank asked, and Gerard sighed. God hated him. He was sure of it. 

“My bed, I suppose. I’ll just sleep on the floor.” Gerard said, and then Frank nodded. Frank let go of Gerard, and started to try and walk towards Gerard’s bedroom, but he tripped over his feet after both of the steps he took, and almost fell flat on his face.

“Okay, okay.” Gerard said, and grabbed onto Frank’s waist and led him into his bedroom. He helped Frank lay down on the bed, and then he grabbed his bin and put it next to Frank. “If you need to puke during the night, then puke in there. I’ll be on the floor, on the other side of the bed, okay? Call if you need me.” Gerard said, and Frank nodded.

Gerard started to walk away, but Frank grabbed his wrist. “I love you, Gerard.” Frank said, and Gerard’s heart almost exploded. But then he remembered Frank was drunk-  _really drunk_ \- and wasn’t speaking the truth.

“Yeah, okay, time to go to sleep.”

“No, I really do. I  _really_  love you.” Frank whispered, and then reached his arms up, grabbed the back of Gerard’s head, and started to pull their faces together for a kiss. 

Gerard didn’t know what to do, but he knew what Frank wanted to do wasn’t right, and so pushed Frank’s hand away. “ _No_ , Frank. Tell me that when you’re sober and I won’t say no, but not now.” Gerard said, and Frank pouted.

“Then don’t sleep on the floor, at least. Your back will hurt in the morning.” Frank said, and then his eyes closed slowly, and his breathing evened out a little, and Gerard knew he was asleep.

“Idiot.” Gerard whispered, and then walked around to the other side of the bed, and squashed himself up to the edge as much as possible, before falling asleep pretty quickly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was chapter 6! I hope you enjoyed. It was like, double the length of what I usually write, so I hope that was a good thing. Also, please go and check out Troye Sivans' song 'Happy Little Pill' and his EP 'TRXYE' (you can preorder it on iTunes)! It's really amazing, like seriously. I'm obsessed. He's a really talented guy! Troye is also a YouTuber, and he's super funny and cool so go and subscribe to him on there whilst you're at it! <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW WHAT A QUICK UPDATE!!! I felt motivated to actually write today, haha. I hope you enjoy it. Also- HESITANT ALIEN IS BEING RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 30TH. I'm so excited, holy shit. Okay, anyway, enjoy!

Gerard stared up at his ceiling, listening to Frank snoring softly, and waiting for the room to become a little lighter which would probably motivate him to actually get out of bed. He’d been trying to fall asleep for the past few hours, but hadn’t succeeded, and he just didn’t know why. He thought he’d gotten over his week long spell of insomnia, but apparently not. He waited a little while longer, and then his bedroom started to become lighter, and he decided that now was a good time to get up, even though it was only 5 a.m.

As quietly as he could, so he didn’t wake Frank, Gerard tiptoed out of his bedroom, and then made his way into the living room. Pete and Mikey were still both passed out on the couch, and both of them were snoring pretty loud, so Gerard decided to just leave them be. He went into the kitchen, and switched the kettle on, before hopping up onto the countertop, and waiting for the kettle to finish boiling so he could have a cup of  coffee, which would hopefully wake him up. 

He heard Mikey groaning from the living room. Gerard smirked to himself- it served his brother right for drinking so much yesterday. But then Gerard realised that Mikey might puke any second now and so grabbed the bin from the kitchen and rushed to his brother. Mikey groaned again, and looked up at his brother, before grabbing the bin and throwing up in it. 

“Gross.” Gerard muttered, but then patted Mikey’s back as his brother continued to be sick. Once Mikey had actually stopped puking, Gerard went back into the kitchen and got him a glass of water. Mikey thanked Gerard, before drinking a few mouthfuls of the water, before leaning back against the couch. 

“I’m never drinking again.” Mikey said, rubbing his forehead, and then gave his glass of water back to Gerard.

“You won’t be saying that in a few days when you go out to some party with Pete again, will you?” Gerard took the glass back out into the kitchen, and emptied the rest of the water down the sink. Mikey groaned again, and Gerard took that as a sign that Mikey wanted paracetamol because of his headache. 

Gerard got another glass of water (he hated when his brother was hungover because he soon became Mikey’s servant for the day) and then took the pills and drink back into Mikey. “Thanks.” Mikey said to his brother, and then took the pills and drunk the water. 

“Next time you’re drunk, you’re going home to Mom and Dad, because I hate having to look after you.” Gerard said, and Mikey laughed a little.

“But Mom and Dad hate me when I’m drunk, and you do everything for me, so I don’t know why you think I’m gonna go home after I’ve been drinking all night.” 

Gerard rolled his eyes, and then looked at Pete, who was still completely passed out on the couch. “I’m just gonna go check on Frank.” Gerard said to Mikey, and Mikey raised his eyebrow.

“Is he in your bed?” Gerard rolled his eyes at his brother because he knew  _exactly_  what Mikey was thinking, but then nodded his head.

“Yes, because you two took up the entire couch, so I couldn’t just let him pass out on the floor. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go check that he hasn’t puked on my bed.” Gerard walked away from Mikey, and then thought that he maybe should have told Mikey that Frank had told him he loved him, and also tried to kiss him. But no, Frank had been drunk, so that didn’t matter one bit. 

When Gerard walked back into his bedroom, Frank was still sleeping, and thankfully hadn’t puked, either. Gerard didn’t know whether he should stay here, and make sure Frank was okay when he eventually woke up, or he should just leave and go back to Mikey. Gerard decided on the latter, and went back to his brother, but by the time he got there, Mikey had fallen back asleep.

“Thanks, Mikes.” Gerard muttered to himself, and then went back into his bedroom. 

-

“What time is it?” Frank groaned, and Gerard looked at the clock next to his bed.

“Seven a.m.” Gerard answered, and went back to staring at the wall.

“Huh. How long you been awake?” Frank asked, and Gerard shrugged.

“Few hours, I think.”

“A few- woah man, have you slept at all?” Gerard shrugged again and Frank wiggled his way over to Gerard’s side of the bed. “What’s up?” 

“Nothing.” Gerard said, but he still wasn’t looking at Frank, and Frank was beginning to get worried about him.

“C’mon, man, what’s up?” Frank tried again- this time, Gerard looked at him, and Gerard shook his head.

“Nothing, honest. There’s coffee and pain killers for you in the kitchen if you need it.” Gerard said.

“Thanks.” Frank smiled, and then he climbed off of the bed, and made his way, assumingly, out to the kitchen.

Gerard exhaled, and leaned his head back against the headboard. Okay, he hadn’t meant to sound really pissed off at Frank, but he felt like the first thing Frank should have said when he woke up was ‘Oh hey, I remember almost kissing you yesterday, and yeah, I am in love with you, and also I want to kiss you now, if that's okay’, but Gerard didn’t really know why he’d expected that. Frank had been drunk, and he also had a girlfriend he was actually in love with.

Gerard climbed out of bed as well, and then went into the living room. Pete was now awake, and Mikey looked pretty grossed out, whilst patting Pete’s back. 

“I’m never drinking again.” Pete groaned.

“Yes you will.” Gerard said, and Pete stuck his middle finger up at Gerard, before leaning over the bin and puking again. 

Frank was in the kitchen, filling up a glass with water from the tap, and downing it in one go. “You haven’t puked yet?” Gerard asked, and grabbed his own cup of coffee that he’d made earlier off of the counter, before sipping at that. Frank shook his head, and filled his glass up again. 

“Not yet,” Frank patted his stomach, and then looked round at Gerard. “I’m feeling like its gonna happen soon though.” 

“Well, when you do it, you better do it in the toilet or in a bin. I am not cleaning your vomit up off of the floor.” Gerard said, and Frank laughed, but then squinted.

“Don’t make me laugh.” Frank warned, and Gerard laughed at him.

“Have you got a headache?” Gerard asked.

Frank rolled his eyes. “Well, it is a usual side effect of a hangover, idiot.”

Gerard put his hands up, almost as if to say 'alright, sorry!' and then grabbed the pack of painkillers from the side. “Here, take one. If you haven’t already.” Gerard took one of the painkillers, and handed it to Frank, who took it, and swallowed it down with water.

“Thanks.” Frank smiled, and then he walked passed Gerard and back into the living room. Gerard followed, and let Frank sit next to Pete on the floor, and Gerard sat on the floor in front of them. “You guys need to go home later. I don’t want your Moms calling me up and getting angry that you haven’t been home for two days.”

“Gee, don’t kick us out, c’mon, Pete bought his car and he can’t drive home like this.” Mikey said, and, for effect, Pete groaned, and rested his head on the back of the couch.

“You two have college tomorrow,” Gerard said, pointing at Pete and Mikey. “And you have work,” Gerard pointed at Frank, who pouted. “So you guys are going home. I don’t care whether I have to drive you home, and Pete has to come and pick up his car later in the week, but I really don’t want three hungover teenagers puking up around my apartment and two of their Mom’s planning on how to kill me.” 

“My Mom’s gonna kill me if I come home hungover, and without my car. Like, that car wasn‘t fucking cheap. She'll probably think somone stole it, or something.” Pete said, and Gerard shrugged.

“Well, then next time, don’t get drunk.” Gerard said, and Pete laughed, before leaning back over the bin, and preparing to puke, but obviously there was nothing left to come up because he just started coughing into it. 

For the next few hours, Pete, Frank and Mikey turned into zombies, and just started groaning a lot and never standing up other than to go to the toilet. Gerard wanted to sketch, but he remembered that his sketch book was under the couch, and there was no way he could get it out without Frank seeing Gerard’s drawing of him, and Gerard really didn’t want that happening. So Gerard just read a few comic books, and whenever any of the guys asked for something, he’d be nice and go and get it for them. 

Gerard’s Mom called him at 2ish, and asked where Mikey was. “He’s hungover, and on my couch.” Gerard said. Donna sighed down the phone, as Mikey shot Gerard a death stare, because both of the Way brothers knew how much their Mom got annoyed when either of them came home drunk (and in Gerard’s case, used to come home drunk). 

“Could you get him home soon? Your Dad needs help with the car, or something. Just get Michael to come home, please.” Donna asked

“Sure thing, Mom. See you later.”

Gerard hung up, and turned to Mikey. “Mom wants you to come home now, because Dad needs help with the car. Also, Mom called you Michael, which means she’s pissed off.” Mikey groaned, but Gerard didn’t know whether it was because of the fact that he knew their Mom was pissed, or because he was still in pain. 

Gerard made Frank and Pete come with them too, even though they both begged him not to take them home. Gerard dropped Pete off first, and his Mom didn’t seem to happy with him, and so Gerard drove away as quick as possible, and went to his parents house.

He went up to the door with Mikey so he could see his Mom. “Your fathers in the garage, go and help him please.” Donna said, and Mikey sighed, and then walked into the house. 

“Mom, he’s really hungover, you shouldn’t make him work.” Gerard said. 

“He shouldn’t get hungover then. Also, you shouldn’t have let him drink that much either, Gerard.” 

“Sorry, Mom.” Gerard sighed, and Donna rolled her eyes.

“Go on, looks like Frank needs to get home as well.” Donna pointed to Frank, who looked like he was falling asleep in Gerard’s car.

“Okay, Mom, see you later.” Gerard said, and then waved goodbye to his Mom, and went back to his car.

“Frank, you still alive?” Gerard tapped Frank’s shoulder to wake him up, and Frank rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah I’m alive, sorry, I’m just really tired,” Frank sat up properly in his seat, and looked over at Gerard. “I don’t understand how you’re not tired if you didn’t sleep at all?”

Gerard shrugged,  and then started his car up again. Frank leant his head back against the seat, and Gerard was sure Frank was watching him, but didn’t dare look round, not just because he might crash the car if he did, but he really didn’t want to see Frank watching him. 

Gerard kept on driving, and Frank didn’t say anything. Once Gerard got to Frank’s house, he said to Frank that he was going to stay in the car, and he'd see him tomorrow, probably. 

“Okay. Well, uh, thanks for taking me home, Gee,” Frank smiled, and went to open the car door, but he stopped halfway. “I remember. What I said and what happened yesterday.” Frank said, and then, without once looking back at Gerard, he got out, and left.

Gerard just stared at where Frank had been sitting, and tried to catch his breath, because, shit. Frank remembered. And whether that was a good or bad thing- well, Gerard would just have to wait until work tomorrow, and find out then. 


	9. Chapter 9

Gerard didn’t sleep at all that night. He’d gone almost 48 without no sleep, and now that it was Monday, and he had to get up early for work- well, it was safe to say he was basically a zombie by now. When he left his apartment, he didn’t even notice that he’d left his phone by his bed and that Pete’s car had gone from where it had been yesterday.

Gerard just stumbled down the street, and down the next few streets until he got to the comic book store. He leant on the door before actually going in, but as soon as he tried to push the door open, it wouldn’t budge. Gerard was confused, but then he looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was only just coming up, and that he hadn’t actually looked at the clock that morning, he’d just rolled out of bed and got dressed and walked here.

He looked down at his watch, but then he remembered that he hadn’t put it on this morning, and his sighed to himself. Instead of trying to find a coffee shop that was open this early- whatever time it actually was- Gerard just sat down against the wall of the store, waited for Bob to show up.

-

“Gerard? Dude?” Gerard’s eyes snapped open and he pushed away whoever was in front of him, because he assumed someone was trying to attack him and that was his first instinct. But then he saw it was Bob, and he relaxed a little. “I got here, and you were passed out again…what happened?” Gerard shrugged, and then rubbed his eyes.“C’mon, lets get you inside and I’ll get you a coffee.” Bob said, and Gerard nodded, thanking him.

Bob tugged Gerard up, unlocked the door to the store, and then let Gerard walk in in front of him. Gerard went straight for his stool, and Bob went out to the back of the store to make himself and Gerard a coffee.

Gerard held his eyes open as he waited for Bob, and stared directly at the door in case any customers came in (which was unlikely, but he just wanted to be prepared for anyone, just to be on the safe side of things).

Bob came back into the store a few minutes later, holding two mugs of steaming coffee. He handed Gerard one mug, and Gerard sipped at it eagerly, hoping that it might wake him up, and if not, just keep him awake for a little while longer. “Are you…not sleeping again?” Bob asked, after they’d both been sitting in silence for a few minutes.

“No. I’m not. I mean, I haven’t slept since Saturday night.” Gerard answered.

“Why weren’t you sleeping the other week? Is this the same reason?” Gerard nodded at Bob.

“Yeah.”

Bob looked at Gerard, and then put his mug down on the counter. “Can you tell me why you weren’t sleeping?”

“What are you, my fucking therapist?” Gerard defended himself, and then realised that he’d snapped at Bob. “Sorry, I’m just-”

“Tired, yeah I get it. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I just want to see if I can work out why you’re not sleeping, or something.” Gerard looked down at his shoes- at the same time he noticed he wasn’t even wearing the same colour socks, for fuck sake.

“Bob, don’t laugh at me, please,” Gerard said, when he decided that now was probably the right time to tell Bob why he thought he wasn’t sleeping. “Okay- fuck, here it goes- I have a huge fucking crush on Frank.” Bob’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open.

“You mean- Frank? The annoying asshole who works with Ray?”

“Yes,” Gerard said, and Bob started laughing. “I told you not to laugh at me!”

“I’m sorry but what does Frank have to do with you not sleeping?” Bob asked.

“I’ve like, had dreams about this guy, who looks exactly like Frank- no, he _is_ Frank- and then I met Frank, and that was when I couldn’t sleep, for the week, and then Frank’s girlfriend called him, and then I could sleep again, and then- then-” Gerard stopped, because he remembered what happened after that- why he couldn’t sleep now.

“Then?” Bob urged him on, and Gerard sighed, and gave in.

“Then Frank said he loved me. On Saturday. He was really drunk, and he tried to kiss me, but I said no, and for the rest of the night, and last night, I couldn’t sleep. And he also told me he remembered what he’d said, too.” Bob was looking very confused, but at least now he wasn’t laughing at Gerard.

“Wait- so, you’re telling me, you’d dreamt about Frank, for like a year, before you actually met him, and then you met him? How does that work?”

Gerard shrugged. “I don’t know, but I just don’t understand how whenever I have a chance with Frank, I can’t sleep, but when I don’t have a chance with him, I can. How does that work?” Bob looked even more confused now, but then he grabbed his coffee, downed the rest, and then stood up.

“Get to work. I have to go call someone.” Gerard sighed, and then finished his own coffee, before turning round on his stool, and grabbing a random comic book, and started to read it.

-

“Gerard? Buddy, you there?” Gerard lifted his head up off of the counter, and yawned. Ray and Bob were both standing in front of him, looking really worried.

“Shit, I fell asleep again, didn’t I?” Gerard asked, and Ray and Bob both nodded.

“You’ve only been asleep for a few minutes, though.” Ray said.

“Sorry.” Gerard muttered, and Bob patted his shoulder.

“It’s okay.” Bob smiled and Gerard smiled a little back, and then rubbed his eyes.

“Bob told me about…” Ray said, leaving Gerard to work out what he meant, but Gerard knew exactly what he meant anyway.

“Yeah.” Gerard sighed.

“Frank’s back at the store…you want me to go get him so you guys can like, talk, or something?” Ray asked, and Gerard nodded.

“Wait, let me come with you- I mean, if that’s okay with you Bob?” Gerard asked.

“Yeah, but just hurry the fuck up, and make sure you come back in here with a boyfriend, or whatever.” Bob said, and Gerard laughed a little, thanked him and then went with Ray.

“Does Mikes know about you and Frank?” Ray asked, as he and Gerard walked down the street.

“Yeah, well, sort of. Just not that Frank said he loves me. And, I uh, would appreciate if you didn’t tell him, until, you know, this is all sorted out.” Gerard said.

“Of course.” Ray smiled. They both crossed the street, and then walked over to the music store.

“Was it really a good idea to leave Frank here alone?” Gerard asked.

“Probably not,” Ray said, and pushed the door open. “The store’s probably on fire.” Gerard laughed, and followed Ray inside.

He was nervous, really fucking nervous, because right now, Frank could either say he loved him, or say he wasn’t actually in love with him, and it was just the alcohol. Gerard hoped that Frank would say he loved him, because at least then Gerard could die happy, if he was to die anytime soon. Gerard prepared himself to make a huge speech to Frank as he closed the door behind him. Also, he wondered if Ray would let them out back, and if Ray would actually trust Frank to be out back on his own again. Probably not, after last time, when-

“Oh, hey, Fro-Fro. This is my girlfriend, Jamia.” Frank said, and Gerard slowly turned around, to see Frank. Frank, with his arm around a girls waist. His girlfriends waist. His undeniably gorgeous girlfriend, who he was so totally in love with. Gerard froze on the spot, and Frank did too.

“Nice to meet you, Jamia.” Ray said, and smiled at Jamia, who smiled back at him. Ray looked at Gerard, and then Frank, and then Frank snapped out of it, and looked at Jamia, a half-guilty look on his face.

“You must be Gerard? Frank won't stop talking about you.” Jamia laughed a little, and Gerard had to snap out of it then because he really didn’t want to seem rude.

“Uh-” But he couldn’t form words, so he just nodded. Jamia smiled at him, and because he was an idiot and couldn’t move properly right now, Gerard just continued to look completely blank.

“I’ve got to go now, Frankie,” Jamia said, and Frank nodded at her. “I’ll see you later, yeah?” Frank nodded again, and then Jamia kissed him. Gerard was still just sort of staring at them, and he couldn’t tare his gaze away, even though it made him angry to see Jamia kissing Frank. “Love you.” Jamia said to Frank, and Frank smiled a little at her.

“Love you too, sweetheart.” Jamia smiled at Gerard as she walked past him to get to the door.

It was quiet for a few seconds, before Frank started to walk towards Gerard. “Gerard, can you hear me out, please,” Gerard shook his head. “Gerard, c’mon, okay, we need to talk,” Frank tried again, and Gerard shook his head again. “Please, listen to me, please, I need to explain that I lo-”

“ _Don’t lie to me_.” Gerard practically spat at Frank. Frank went to reach for Gerard’s wrist, but Gerard pulled it away, and as quick as he possibly could, ran out of the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that if you think I’m hating on Jamia, or something, I’m really not. I love Jamia a lot, and I think she’s perfect for Frank irl. I might ship Frerard, but that doesn’t mean I hate Jamia (or Lindsey, for that matter). Jamia is just a character in this story, just like Frank and Gerard and Ray and Bob are. Because I’m not trying to make out any events in this story happened. They didn’t. I made it all up. Even in this story, she is portrayed as a good person (and that’s not going to change at all in the story). Jamia is amazing. Everyone is amazing. But yeah, now that’s cleared up, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and the fact that it was a quick update. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i got a macbook the other day *cheers*. i'd been saving up forever so that was super cool. everything looks SO CLEAR and its super weird (but in a good way aha). anyway, heres the next chapter. i hope you enjoy it, and thank you for reading/commenting/leaving kudos. :)

When Gerard went home from work later that day- after the incident with Frank that morning- he went straight into the kitchen, and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He cracked it open started to drink it, but before he'd even swallowed the first mouthful, felt like he was going to be sick, so spat it into the sink. He emtiped the rest of the beer away, and the other few beers that were still in the fridge, and threw the bottles away. He wanted to drown his sorrows in _something_ , but he knew if that meant going back to drinking, he sure as hell wasn't going to do it.

Instead Gerard grabbed his sketchbook from where it still was hidden under the couch, picked up a pencil from the pot on the coffee table, and started to draw whatever came to mind. This time, Frank didn't come to mind. Gerard was still angry at him, sure, but he was trying not to think about him, and this time, it actually worked. Gerard started to draw the girl who came to the comic book store- Lindsey. He didn't know what colour her eyes were, and he could really remember whether she had had her hair up or down, and he couldn't quite work out if she wore red or pink lipstick (though he was sure it was red), but Gerard just continued to sketch her anyway.

And then he had an idea.

-

On Wednesday morning, Gerard woke up _really_ early- his alarm clock woke him up from his nightmare at 6:30 a.m., and honestly he was glad, because he'd seen enough Frank for one night, whether or not he'd actually proven that when dream-Frank saved his life again in the nightmare, well, that was another story. When Gerard had had sufficient coffee to wake himself up, he showered, got dressed into his favourite jeans Smashing Pumpkins shirt, and sorted out his hair which resembled something that was supposed to be messy on purpose. He then put on some eyeliner, because why not, laced up his favourite white converse, and left for work, because it was already 8 a.m., and Bob was going to be pissed at him.

When he got to the store, Bob was already with Ray, and Mikey was talking to someone behind one of the book stands, which meant either Pete or Frank was here. And Gerard guessed that it was Frank. Gerard didn't say anything to anyone, just walked up to the counter, and sat on his stool. Bob and Ray both shared a look, and then looked at Gerard.

"You're all dressed up?" Ray said, but it ended up sounding like a question. Gerard shrugged, as if he didn't know that he actually looked _really_ good today. Instead of asking Gerard why he was actually wearing clean clothes and his hair was purposely messy for once, Bob and Ray just continued to talk about whatever they were talking about- Gerard had sort of lost concentration because Frank and Mikey appeared in front of him. He looked at his brother, and ignored Frank's face go bright red.

"Hey Mikes," Gerard smiled. "Aren't you at college today?"

"Nope. The music store isn't open either, so me and Frank are just gonna hang out with you today. If that's okay?" Mikey asked, and Gerard grinned.

"Course! More time to hang out with my little bro!"

"And Frank." Mikey added. Gerard avoided that by picking up a comic book and handed it to Mikey.

"I found that out back yesterday and thought you might like it." Gerard said. Mikey took the comic book, and then looked at Gerard, and then Frank. He opened his mouth to say something, because he had obviously realised that something had happened between Gerard and Frank, but Frank managed to cut Mikey off in time.

"Hey, Mikey, I saw a comic a minute ago that I might buy." Frank said, and grabbed Mikey's arm so he could pull him away. Gerard smiled to himself, and then decided to go out back and start unpacking some comics, until he fully set his plan into action.

-

Mikey and Frank had swapped places with Gerard for the past hour, sorting out boxes out back to help bob, seen as they were living in his store for the entire day, because they couldn't think of anything better to do.

Gerard had been rearranging comics near the front of the store for a little while now, and every so often he checked whether 1) part of his plan had walked through the door yet, or 2) Frank could see him when he finished off this part of the plan. Number 1 hadn't happened yet, but number 2 was perfect- Frank could easily see Gerard here, which meant if Number 1 happened right now, Gerard would be ecstatic.

And Gerard thanked God when Lindsey walked into the store, and instantly came over to where Gerard was, and started flicking through the comics he'd just sorted out. Gerard looked up quickly, and saw Frank glancing over at him. _Perfect_ , Gerard thought.

He looked at Lindsey, and smiled a little at her. She barely noticed him, but when she did, she smiled back. Gerard adjusted some of the comics, and then looked at her again. "Hi, Lindsey, right?" Gerard asked. Lindsey looked at him, and admittedly seemed a little confused, but then she smiled, closed the comic book, and smiled.

"Yeah." She answered.

"Cool," Gerard held his hand out for Lindsey. "I'm Gerard." Lindsey shook his hand, and Gerard quickly glanced at Frank, and thankfully Frank was watching them.

"I know, I mean, sort of, I've heard people call you Gee." Lindsey giggled.

"Yeah, it's a nickname. My little brother calls me it, but then everyone just started to call me it, and-" Gerard shrugged. Lindsey giggled again, and put the comic book back on the stand.

"Hey, listen," Gerard said, and glanced at Frank again, who looked really pissed off. "Do you, uhm, maybe wanna go out with me sometime? Like, on a date?" Gerard asked. Lindsey blushed a little, but then nodded.

"Wow, uh, yeah. Sure. Wait- do you have a pen?" Lindsey asked, and Gerard pulled the pen he'd picked up earlier out of his pocket. Gerard gave Lindsey his hand, and she wrote her number down on it. "Call me later, yeah?" She asked, and Gerard nodded, and smiled at her.

Lindsey smiled back, and then spun on her heel, and walked out of the shop. _That was easier than expected_ , Gerard thought. He walked back up to the counter, where Bob, Ray, Mikey and Frank were. Gerard sat down on his stool, and sighed happily.

"Gerard, did you just ask that girl out?" Mikey asked, and Gerard nodded. "Gerard, you don't like g-"

"Bob, what time is it?" Gerard asked, cutting his brother off.

"Gerard, you're wearing a watch. have you sudenly become uncapable of telling the time?" Bob said, and Gerard rolled his eyes. He looked at Frank, who looked more than just upset and pissed off- he looked like he might burst. Which meant Gerard's plan, so far, had completely worked. He smirked at Frank, and then he went out back to start working on sorting out the boxes again. Part one of Make Frank Jealous of worked better than expected. Tomorrow would be the start of part two, and Gerard was totally ready for it. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! now for the next chapter (number 11 already woowww), and i hope you enjoy it. this chapter will be dramatic (if u can call it that lmao) so yeah...enjoy!!!! Also just to note that Frank is in Pencey in this story!!!

When Gerard got home from work yesterday, he'd almost instantly called Lindsey, and they'd set a time and a place for their date- Saturday, at 12:30, and they were going out for lunch and then to a movie that Lindsey really wanted to see, but Gerard hadn't actually heard of before (he didn't say that, though). Gerard called Mikey as soon as he'd finished taking to Lindsey, and told him the news.

"That's cool, Gee, but...what? Have you just stopped liking guys, or something?" Mikey asked. Gerard thought that maybe he should tell his brother what he was planning to do, but then he thought that Mikey wasn't actually very good at keeping secrets, and so would probably tell Frank.

"I don't know, Mikes. I just think Lindsey is cool, and just because I've only dated guys for the past five years and I came out to mom and dad as gay- that doesn't mean I can't like girls too."

The line was silent for a few seconds, and then Mikey sighed. "Okay, dude. Are you gonna tell mom? Or dad?"

"No," Gerard said quickly, because hopefully it wouldn't have to go that far. "I mean, maybe, if Lindsey and I actually hit it off, then yeah, but if not, then-"

"They're gonna be really confused." Mikey cut in. 

"What? Do you think they're gonna take it really bad?" Gerard asked. 

"No, they'll be fine, but they're just gonna be confused," Mikey said. "I have to go." 

The other line cut off, and Gerard was left thinking that maybe his little brother was a bit smarter than he seemed, and had already worked out what Gerard was planning. 

-

Today, at work, Mikey didn't drop by like he usually did. Ray and Frank did, however. Gerard joined in Ray and Bob's conversation, and Frank wandered around the store. Gerard could see that Frank was picking up random comic books and putting them in the wrong places, probably just to piss Gerard off. It worked, but Gerard didn't show it. Frank obviously got bored, because and left, which meant Ray had to leave too. Gerard then asked Bob if he could leave early, and Bob said yeah, so at 5 p.m., Gerard left and walked over to the music store. Time for part two of his plan.

Frank was standing at the counter, behind the cash register, and looked really bored. He looked up when Gerard came in. "Ray is out back, he'll be out in a minute."

"Actually, it was you I came to see," Gerard said, and walked over to Frank. "I want to talk about the other day."

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it?" Frank asked.

"Well, now I do."

Frank looked down at the counter, and then up at Gerard. He sighed. "Listen-" He started.

"No, you listen to me. Let's...just forget anything happened. No hard feelings yeah? We can be friends again. I can date Lindsey, and you can date Jamia." Gerard smiled at Frank, and then turned to walk out of the store without letting Frank say anything to him. 

"Gerard, no, wait-" Frank called after Gerard, but Gerard had left before Frank finished his sentence. Part 2- complete.

-

Gerard's date with Lindsey went great on Saturday. They went out for lunch- turned out that Lindsey was as much of a comic book geek as he was- and they saw the film Lindsey wanted to see, and Gerard had to admit that it was actually really fucking good. They both agreed that they should go out on another date, and Lindsey said that her best friends' boyfriends' band was performing at the bar a few blocks away from the comic book store on Tuesday night. They could even go backstage afterwards because Lindsey knew a lot of the people in the band, anyway. 

"Sounds great," Gerard said. "If you come to the store just before we close then we can go straight from there, yeah? We can get some food before, or something. If you want to."

"Yeah, cool. See you on Tuesday, Gerard." Lindsey said.

"Bye." Gerard said. Lindsey said goodbye too, and then they hung up.

-

Tuesday came around pretty quick. Frank hadn't spoken to Gerard since Wednesday, but Mikey had told Gerard that Frank had seemed really upset lately, and did Gerard know why, so that meant Frank was upset about Gerard, which was all part of his plan. However, what wasn't part of Gerard's plan was Mikey being annoyed at him, too. Gerard was sure that Mikey had some idea of what was going on, or at least that Gerard was annoyed at Frank for some reason, but Gerard didn't understand how that affected Mikey. 

On Tuesday, Gerard stayed as late as possible at the comic book store. Both Bob and Ray, who were at the store just before Gerard left for his date, were still a little confused at to why Gerard was now dating Lindsey, if he was gay. "I'm not gay. Not totally. I like girls too." Gerard had said.

"So you're bi?" Bob asked. 

Gerard nodded. "I like guys more, I suppose," That wasn't a lie. "But I like Lindsey more than any other guy right now." That, however, was a lie.

"What about Frank?" Ray asked. "I thought you two had something going on there?"

"Frank has a girlfriend. We both agreed that we were gonna forget about what he'd said." 

Lindsey arrived barely a second later, wearing a leather jacket, black skinny jeans, and a 'Pencey Prep' (who he assumed was a band) t-shirt that Gerard had never heard of. Gerard wasn't going to deny it- Lindsey looked really good. "Hey." She smiled at Gerard, whilst lingering at the door of the store. Gerard said goodbye to Bob and Ray, who both said 'have fun!' as Gerard and Lindsey left. 

"If you don't mind me asking- who is Pencey Prep?" Gerard asked as he and Lindsey walked down the street together. 

"Oh! They're my best friends boyfriends band- the band we're gonna see tonight. They're pretty cool- he's the vocalist. I think you'll like them." Lindsey smiled at Gerard, and Gerard smiled back. 

-

After they'd had dinner, they walked the few blocks to get to the bar talking about Batman, and Gerard wished the situation he was in right now was different, because he and Lindsey would have been really fucking good friends, if he wasn't so jealous of Frank and Jamia. 

Because Lindsey personally knew the band, they didn't have to wait in line outside the bar. It turned out that Pencey Prep were actually becoming quite famous locally, and Gerard was pretty pissed that he hadn't heard of them before, because from the way Lindsey was talking about them, they were actually really good. Gerard and Lindsey went to 'backstage'- it was actually just a room behind the stage that was blocked off by a few curtains- and Gerard met the bassist, John, and Shaun, who played keyboards. 

Lindsey went off to go and find her best friend, who Gerard still didn't actually know the name of because he had completely forgotten to ask, and Lindsey just hadn't said. 

"You're gonna like Frank," Shaun said. Gerard looked at him, confused. "He's lead vocals."  _How ironic,_ Gerard thought,  _that the singers name is Frank._

"I'm looking forward to listening to you guys. I'm still pissed that I hadn't heard of your music before, though." Gerard said. 

Gerard, John and Shaun talked for a bit, and they cracked open a beer (of course Gerard just got a glass of water), and then Lindsey walked back in, and sat down next to Gerard. "Frank's throwing a hissy-fit," Lindsey said, and Shaun and John rolled their eyes. "Something about his eyeliner not being right?" Lindsey laughed, and Gerard laughed along with her. 

"Is he gonna be long? We go on in ten. And I still have no idea where Tim and Neil are." John asked. Lindsey shrugged.

Gerard sipped at his water as Lindsey continued to speak. "I don't know. I don't think so. He started wiping it all off, and then made Jamia help him..."

Just as Gerard was about to swallow the mouthful of water, he choked on it, because  _Jamia_?! Lindsey looked at him concerned, and then patted his back as he coughed the water back into the cup. Gerard wiped his mouth, and then looked at Lindsey, apologetically. 

"Sorry, I don't know what happened there." Gerard laughed nervously. 

"It's-"

"Oh my fucking god." Lindsey was cut off, and Gerard looked up, and saw Frank standing in the doorway to the room. Frank was gawping at him, and Gerard didn't really know how to respond. 

Jamia walked around Frank, and then looked surprised when she saw Gerard. "Oh! Gerard, hi!" She smiled at him, and then sat down on the other side of Lindsey. "Wait, Linds, is Gerard your boyfriend?" Jamia asked. Lindsey blushed. "I don't- we haven't spoken about that yet-"

"Yeah, I am." Gerard cut in, and smiled at Jamia, before quickly kissing Lindsey's cheek. 

"Small world, huh?" Jamia said, and Gerard nodded.

"Wait, you know Jamia and Frank?" Lindsey asked Gerard, and he nodded again. 

"I've only met Jamia once but yeah, I know Frank, right dude?" Gerard looked up at Frank, who was still staring at Gerard. 

 "Y-yeah." Frank stuttered, after being too quiet for a few seconds.

There was cheering coming from the bar, and, who Gerard assumed was Neil and Tim, walked in. "Let's go guys!" They said to Shaun, John and Frank. Shaun and John  left the room, and Frank stared at Gerard for a couple more seconds, and then followed his bandmates out of the room. 

Jamia, Lindsey and Gerard followed them out, and sat at the side of the stage. Gerard smirked to himself. Maybe this would make things a whole lot easier for him. Yeah, it would. His plan was getting easier and easier by the second. Time to put stage three into action- public affection to make Frank even more jealous than he already was- okay, Gerard _really_  needed better names for his plans. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO chapter 11. I hope you enjoyed! that was sort of dramatic, right? hahaha okay i tried.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i haven't updated in a few days! i went to sitc on sunday, and i met ben cook (2nd time), tomska (2nd time), cherry wallis and jack howard (3rd time), and they were all awesome. im probably gonna go again next year on both days so i can meet dan and phil and zoe and alfie and marcus and everyone else. but yeah! enjoy this chapter! idk how many chapters are gonna be left but im guessing, excluding this one, maybe 6/7 more? idk. anyway, enjoy!!!

The show had been good, Gerard admitted to himself. Frank had a good voice, and the guys were good at playing their instruments. The lyrics were good, and overall, Gerard had enjoyed himself.  _Especially_ when Frank kept on looking at him. Gerard couldn't tell if the looks were meant to be filled with anger, or maybe longing, or even both. Either way Gerard smirked to himself whenever Frank looked in his direction. 

The show was only 30 minutes long, so the time went by pretty quickly. The people in the bar didn't leave when Pencey left the stage, which made Gerard assume there was another band going on afterwards, even though he hadn't seen them backstage. When Gerard followed Lindsey and Jamia backstage, he immediately told Shaun and John how much he liked their band.

"Thanks, I mean, you should tell Frank that. He writes most of everything, anyway." Shaun said. 

"Oh, right." Gerard said. He didn't tell Frank that, though. 

They all sat back down in the seats they were sitting in before. Frank wiped his eyeliner off, and then he sat down next to Jamia, which was only a few people away from Gerard. "Gerard, you should come out with us tonight!" John said. Lindsey put her hand on Gerard's arm, and nodded in agreement. 

"Where are you guys going?" Gerard asked. 

"We're gonna go find a few bars and drink them dry!" Shaun laughed, making everyone else in the room, but Gerard, laugh. Gerard should say that he didn't drink. He didn't want to start that awful habit up again. His gaze wandered over to Frank, who looked worried, seen as he knew that Gerard didn't drink. But then Gerard smiled. 

"Sounds awesome."

 

* * *

The first bar they went into seemed like everyone was warming up. Frank, Jamia and Lindsey  flashed their fake ID's at the bouncers, and then they all went in. Jamia and Lindsey shared a beer, whilst the other guys had a beer each. Gerard watched on, wondering whether he should buy a beer, but he wasn't ready yet. They left that bar after an hour or so, because it was boring them all, even though they were starting to become a little drunk. At the next bar, Lindsey and Jamia had a few shots, and were becoming tipsy. The other guys had more beer, and Gerard finally ordered one too. Frank shook his head when he saw Gerard lifting the can to his lips. Gerard shrugged, and then took his first swig of beer since he was 20. He thought he was going to puke at first, but after a few sips, he warmed up to the drink, and ordered another. 

This bar ended up being as boring as the first, and they moved onto another. There were more people in this bar, and the music was louder, and Gerard guessed they'd probably stay here for the rest of the night. "C'mon Gerard! Take it!" Lindsey giggled, shoving a shot in Gerard's face. It was a weird bright green liquid and Gerard had no idea what it was. But he took it out of Lindsey's hand, and swallowed it in one go. Everyone around him cheered, and a stupid grin spread across his face. Well, everyone but Frank. 

"Let's go dance, Frankie!" Gerard heard Jamia beg her boyfriend. Frank shook his head, even pulling his hand away from Jamia when she tried to pull him into the crowd of dancing people. 

"No, Jamia, just...go dance with someone else." Frank said. Jamia pouted and then turned to Lindsey, grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the bar. Lindsey called after Gerard, telling him to hurry up and come with them to dance.

"I'll come over later!" Gerard shouted after her (even though he couldn't dance), waving her off, and almost falling over because he wasn't holding himself up on the bar anymore. He hadn't felt this good since...well, he didn't really know. He was wasted and he regretted drinking so much, but for now, he felt good. He held himself up on the bar again, and then turned around to look at Frank, who was watching him. 

Frank looked really disappointed in him, which confused Gerard. "Why d'ya looked so pissed with me?" Gerard slurred, raising his eyebrow at Frank. Frank didn't say anything, just looked down at the bar in front of him. Gerard just then realised that Frank had drunk anything since the first bar they'd been at. He nudged Frank with his elbow, but Frank didn't look at him. "C'mon, Frankie! Wassup?" Gerard asked. 

"Why are you drinking, Gerard?" Frank asked. 

"Because I want to?"

"But you've been sober for over a year! And you should have kept it liked that. If you're trying to piss me off, or impress Lindsey..."

"I'm doing it because I want to drink." Gerard answered, and Frank rolled his eyes. 

"You're doing it because you want to make me jealous, and impress Lindsey. I can read you like an open book."

"Why would I want to make you jealous?" 

"Because you...you're-"

"Exactly. I want to drink. That's why I'm drinking."

"Fuck off, Gerard. Mikey told me why you stopped drinking. You don't need to impress Lindsey. She already adores you. And don't need to try and make me jealous. Just stop drinking and know that I'm already jealous." Frank said, and then he moved away from the bar.

"Where are you going?" Gerard asked as Frank started to walk away.

"Tell Jamia and the others that I left. I'm going home." Frank said, and in a matter of seconds, Gerard couldn't see him anymore. Gerard sighed, and then looked down into his beer. Frank was probably right. He pushed his beer away from him, so he wasn't tempted to drink anymore. He couldn't see Jamia, or Lindsey, or even the rest of Pencey. He sighed, and then, though his legs were wobbly from how much he'd drunk, made his way out of the bar, and going to try and find his way home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that wasn't super long. i just wanted to sum up the end of that night with the frank/gerard mini-talk (do you get what i mean? haha). but yeah. chapter 12 done! hope you enjoyed! don't forget to leave comments and kudos as thats always awesome!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!!! sorry for the lack of updates in the last week or so. i have been very busy worrying about going back to school in a few weeks. not looking forward to that as i hate school a lot and i am also starting my gcse's and im very nervous about that. 
> 
> also, i stayed awake until 7:30 a.m. to preorder hesitant alien. i was awake until 4, found out it had been released for preorder, realised i couldn't go and get any credit cards because 4 a.m. was way too early, and then waited until 7:30 and then finally got back to sleep at 8. that was pure dedication to gerard there. also- no shows video! any opinions on it? it wasn't really what i was expecting, and though it was a cool video, i have to say it wasn't as exciting as the weighted video. but gerard looked good in it so thats cool. 
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy chapter 13! im saying there may be only a few more chapters left! maybe 6/7. i like even number so probably 7 more so there will be 20 chapters overall. anyway, there might be loads more, but who knows!

Gerard woke up suddenly, his throat filling with vomit and his heartbeat quickening. He tried to roll off of the couch and rush to the bathroom, but his brain went fuzzy and he couldn't see straight, let alone run into another room . He landed on the floor with a thud, and before he could move anymore, he heaved and puked on the floor in front of him. His bowels emptied themselves, and after he finished being sick, he groaned and leant back against the couch. There was nothing worse than being sick, unless it was being sick all over his carpet. 

Gerard's head was pounding, and he still couldn't see straight, but he pushed himself up off of the floor and wobbled his way out to the bathroom. He turned the shower on, and leant up against the wall as it warmed up, and then he started to take his t-shirt off, only to realise that he hadn't changed out of his clothes he was wearing yesterday. "Gross." Gerard muttered, as he sniffed his t-shirt, hoping that he still smelled okay so he wouldn't really have to wash it for a few more days, but it smelt like alcohol and puke and even if he hated clean clothes, he couldn't wear that again without washing it. 

He stripped, and then stood under the warm water, desperately trying to scrub the smell of alcohol and vomit and whatever else he smelled like off of his body. No matter how much shower gel and how much soap he used, he still felt disgusting, and gave up on trying to  _feel_ any cleaner and turned the shower off. He reached out of the shower cubicle blindy, and grabbed for the towel that he kept hung up next to the shower. He wrapped it around his waist, and then hopped out of the shower. 

Gerard frowned when he looked at himself in the tiny mirror he had in the bathroom. His eyes were red and puffy, and though he was warmer now from the shower, his cheeks were still pale. He looked and admittedly felt more tired than he had in a long time- at least since he'd had a drink last. Then, as soon as he thought about drinking, he felt guilty. He should never have drunk anything yesterday. It was one of the biggest mistakes he'd made for a while, and he regretted it loads. 

He'd promised Mikey, the moment he became sober, that he'd never drink again. And yet here he was, still sort of drunk and just beginning to become hungover. Mikey was either going to kill him, or even worse- never speak to him again.

Gerard dried himself off, and then walked across the hallway to his bedroom. His room was still a mess- as it usually was- but he knew he hadn't been in here last night as it would have been even more messy. He walked over to the tiny chest of drawers that was squashed in one corner of the room, and pulled out a pair of boxers. He slipped them on, and then went over to his closet. He was going to get out a t-shirt to lounge around in all day, because he wanted nothing more than to just  _sleep,_ and avoid Mikey until he wasn't hungover, but then he saw his clock out the corner of his eye. 

It was Wednesday. It was 10 a.m. And he was supposed to be at work. 

* * *

Gerard had had no idea that he'd blacked out again until he heard sniffling next to him. He opened his eyes, instantly wincing at the brightness of the room. He felt paralyzed, but when he flexed his fingers and toes and moved his head to the side a little, he knew that he was fine. He reached his hands up to rub at his eyes, when someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him upright. 

It was Mikey who was sitting next to him, on his bed. Mikey's eyes were bright red and puffy, like Gerard's had been earlier, but Gerard knew Mikey wasn't drunk. Mikey had been crying. Big brother mode took over Gerard, and he went to open his mouth to ask Mikey what was wrong, and if he was okay, but then Mikey lightly punched Gerard's arm. It wasn't play fighting, like the way they used to fight when they were younger, but Gerard realised Mikey actually wanted to hurt him.

Whenever Gerard had cried before, he always noticed that he'd always feel limp and weak because he was just so fucking upset. Like picking up a glass or even his sketchpad would take all of his effort because he just couldn't be bothered to do  _anything._ Everything would feel numb and he felt like all he could do was just lay there and do nothing. This was exactly what Mikey was like now. Mikey wanted to punch him, and maybe even beat him up, but because he was so upset, all he could manage was a light punch to Gerard's arm. 

Mikey shrunk in on himself, and then within a matter of seconds, started sobbing. Gerard wanted to hug his little brother, but he knew Mikey didn't want that right now. Because Mikey knew that Gerard had gotten drunk. 

"Mikey..." Gerard started, desperate for his brother not to hate him. He wanted anything but that. Mikey let out a loud sob, and Gerard reached forward to put his hand on his brothers shoulder. 

Mikey flinched away from Gerard's touch. "Why'd you do it?" Mikey sobbed, and Gerard quickly pulled his hand back. He wanted to have a good answer, but there wasn't a good answer. Peer pressure wasn't it. No one had forced the drink down his throat and no one said he had to drink it. Lindsey had said he  _should_ drink it, but not that she'd leave him if he didn't. 

"I don't know." Gerard answered honestly, making Mikey sob again. He knew how much his brother hated him drinking. Mikey had been the only one that had been there every second of everyday when Gerard had been drinking. Mikey was the one that poured the alcohol down the sink and made sure Gerard went to his therapy sessions, even if Mikey had only been thirteen and fourteen at the time. 

Mikey shook his head, and then stood up, and walked out of Gerard's bedroom. There was puke rising in Gerard's throat, but it was word puke- where Gerard was just going to spew out anything to get Mikey to forgive him. 

But he managed to force it down, and follow Mikey out of the room. Mikey was sitting on the couch, Pete next to him, shushing him and telling him to calm down. 

Gerard stood in the doorway, not knowing what to do. The fact that both Pete and Mikey were in his apartment confused him, but then he remembered the spare key under the mat that Mikey always tripped over which he  _still_ hadn't moved, and he forced that though completely out of his mind. Pete looked up at him, and shook his head. Pete had known about Gerard's drinking habits- he had, from the start, since he'd been Mikey's best friend for years. Pete hated Gerard drinking almost as much as Mikey did. Pete had to be there for Mikey whenever it got too much for him, and sometimes even for Gerard when Mikey couldn't handle it. 

Gerard started to walk backwards, to go back into his bedroom so he could lock the door and never leave, but then he heard movement in the kitchen, and Frank came out, holding two mugs of coffee. He looked at Gerard as he walked into the living room, but he didn't nod at Gerard, or even shake his head the way Pete had. He handed Mikey one of the mugs of coffee, who took it shakily, and then walked over to Gerard, and handed him the other one. 

Gerard didn't really know what to say to Frank, so instead he just stayed quiet. He stared down into the coffee, and though he wanted to drink some, he didn't. Mikey had stopped sobbing, and Pete had stopped telling him it was okay, and to calm down. Frank was standing by the couch, next to Pete, and looking all around Gerard, but never at him. Gerard felt unwanted in his own apartment, but he knew he deserved to feel that way. 

Mikey looked up at him, after sipping more of his coffee. "Give me an answer that is more than 'I don't know'." He demanded. Gerard didn't know how to reply, because that was his only answer. "You didn't just drink because everyone else was drinking. Why did you drink, Gerard?"

The answer struck him, and Gerard almost blurted it out, but then he stopped.  _I needed Frank to be jealous, that was my plan, and it worked,_ Gerard thought, but instead he just stared down into his coffee again. 

"I needed a drink." Gerard lied. 

"You needed a drink the first time you got drunk. And you needed one the time after, and the time after that..."

"I'm never gonna drink again, Mikes, I promise." 

"I'm eighteen now, I know that when you promise something, you're just lying. You always lie. I know you're lying to Lindsey, and you're lying to me too." 

That comment shattered Gerard's heart. Mikey put his mug down on the floor, and then pushed past Gerard, and left the apartment. Pete was a few steps behind him, and called after Mikey as he ran out the door. Frank was still standing next to the couch, but now he was actually looking at Gerard.

Gerard was desperate now. He stepped over to Frank, his heart beating in his chest, and searched Frank's eyes for anything like sympathy or worry. And they completely full of what he was looking for. "Frank." Gerard said, and Frank looked down at the floor. 

"You were trying to make me jealous. And it worked. But now your brother doesn't trust you. Was it really worth it?"

"No! I mean- I wasn't trying to make you-"

"Don't lie to Lindsey. She's an amazing person. Don't lie to your brother. He doesn't need to be lied to. And don't lie to me either, Gerard."

"I'm not lying to you! I'm not lying to anyone!"

"You're lying by saying you're not lying," Frank looked up at Gerard, and then he shook his head. "Mikey is heartbroken. You don't need to make me jealous of other people, because I already _want_ you. And please...just don't drink again."

Gerard's heart almost stopped beating. Frank had admitted that he wanted Gerard just as much as Gerard wanted him. He was an idiot- he should never have drunk, and he should never have tricked Lindsey in the first place. He was stupid- Mikey hated him, Pete hated him, Frank probably hated him, whether or not he liked Gerard too. 

Gerard was left staring at a the wall. Frank had sneaked passed him while Gerard had been off in his own little world. Really, all of this time, Gerard had been off in his own little world. Unlike in his dreams, he couldn't be saved by dream-Frank. This time, he'd have to patch things up on his own. And he'd do anything to make Mikey see how sorry he really was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did that even make any sense? idk im still tired and its almost 11 so i'll probably go to sleep now. lets hope that gee sorts everything out with pete and especially mikey, and will everything work out with frank, or is he just dreaming (hahaha that pun (sort of)). i'll leave you to think up situations to what happens next time. hope you enjoyed, and better things will come in the next few chapters! don't forget to leave comments/kudos as they're awesome!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so i started writing late yesterday, but fell asleep and so didn't finish off until this morning. however, my laptop decided to reset itself when i was almost finished and it deleted everything but the first paragraph. so here it is, finally, many hours after i promised it would be up! hope you enjoy, and thank you for all your comments and kudos so far!

That night, after spending the entire day on the couch, Gerard didn't have a single nightmare. He didn't even sleep. He laid in bed until the early hours of the morning, and then wandered around his apartment, when he'd gathered enough energy to get out of bed. 

He spent a few hours on the couch, flicking through his sketchbook, and touching up his sketches that he'd done recently. Then he flicked to the page of his drawing of Frank, and immediately closed the book. He put it down on the floor, vowing to himself not to continue with it anymore. But barely a minute later, it was in his hands again, alongside a pencil, and he was adding more details to it, until he was completely finished. 

After that, he left the sketchpad and pencil on his couch, and went out into the kitchen to make himself a coffee. Not only did it make him more awake, but it made him crave even more coffee.

Finally, after drinking enough coffee to last him a lifetime, Gerard had a shower, even washing his hair whilst he was in there. Once he was out, and in his bedroom, he got dressed, and towel dried his hair quickly. He left his apartment at 7:30 a.m., and walked towards the comic book store. He felt nervous, and still felt guilty, and was worried that Ray might be angry at him, and Bob might fire him, but worst of all, would be Mikey never speaking to him again. 

And he hoped he could show Mikey how sorry he was. 

* * *

The moment he stepped through the door, he wanted to step back out. Bob, Ray, and even Mikey were all standing around the counter, talking to each other. As soon as he walked in, they all turned round to look at him, and Gerard suddenly felt a surge of anxiety wash over him. He was standing there for a few seconds, before he finally gained the courage to take one step forward.

"Well don't just stand there," Ray said, breaking the silence. "Come in." Gerard did as he was told, and walked up to the counter, taking his normal space next to Bob. 

"How are you today Gerard? We missed you yesterday." Ray said.

"I'm good. I forgot to call up yesterday," Gerard looked at Bob. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Bob said, brushing it off. 

"How about you, Mikey?" Ray asked.

"I'm  _fine_." Mikey snapped at Ray, making him jump a little. They stayed quiet after that, the silence becoming so awkward it was almost painful. Mikey wouldn't look at Gerard, and Gerard knew it wasn't even to piss Gerard off- it was probably because Mikey couldn't physically  _look_ at him. If Gerard was Mikey in this situation though, he wouldn't be able to look at himself, either. 

"Mikey, I'm-"

"Save it," Mikey cut him off. "I don't want to hear it." 

"But Mikey-"

"But Gerard, you promised me, and you broke that promise.  _I don't want to hear it._ " The silence made a reappearance after that. It wasn't awkward this time, though. Bob and Gerard went out back and started sorting out the comic books that had come in on a delivery, and Ray went back to the music store. Mikey didn't hang out for much longer anyway. He left about half an hour after Gerard had arrived, muttering something about college, which Gerard was surprised to hear. He didn't comment on it though, and just continued organising the comic books. 

When Gerard had finished all he had to do around the store, he sat back down with Bob at the counter. Bob was playing a game on his computer, paying almost no attention to Gerard, but when Gerard was just staring around the store, Bob nudged him. 

"You need to sort out what happened between you and Mikey."

"No shit," Gerard said. He then groaned, and rested his head in his folded arms on the counter. "Did he tell you what happened?"

"Yup."

"I messed up, I know."

"You need to tell him that."

"I have! But he doesn't trust me. I broke his promise and he thinks I'm gonna do it again."

"And this was all because of Frank?"

"Yeah, I mean- wait, how did you know that?"

Bob sighed, and then spun around in his chair so he was facing Gerard, instead of the computer. "Mikey told me and Ray that you drunk because you wanted to make Frank jealous. Now, I don't know if thats true, but Mikey seemed to be one-hundred-percent sure that it was definitely about Frank."

"Well, he's right," Gerard said. "I'm in love with Frank. And he's in love with Jamia. I wanted to make him jealous of me, so I used Lindsey." 

"I knew you didn't actually like her." Bob said, matter-of-factly. 

"No but I  _do_ like her. Just not in a way that I'd ever be in love with her."

Bob thought about what Gerard had said for a few seconds, and then he patted Gerard's shoulder. "Listen, dude, if you like Frank, then you need to let him know."

"He told me he liked me too."

"When the Jesus Christ, what's stopping you?"

* * *

When Gerard left work, he called Mikey as he was walking home. Mikey wouldn't pick up a few times, but thankfully he finally picked up. Gerard told him to come over to his apartment, and Mikey said okay, even though Gerard literally had to beg him. 

As soon as Gerard got home, Mikey showed up. He didn't look at Gerard when he walked in, and only looked at him when he was sitting down on the couch. Mikey folded his arms, and looked up at Gerard expectantly. "Well? What have you got to say to me?"

"I'm sorry," Gerard started. "I'm sorry I drunk. I'm sorry I  _got_ drunk. I'm sorry I broke my promise. I'm sorry I'm an awful brother. But, I'm gonna clear this up with you now- I love Frank. I wanted to make him jealous, and I got caught up in it all and I forgot. Mikey, I'm sorry."

Mikey looked away from Gerard, and then leant back against the couch. "Whatever."

"Mikey!" Gerard said. "Mikey, you  _have_ to forgive me."

"I don't  _have_ to do anything."

"Mikey," Gerard tried again. "I'm an idiot. I get it. I broke my promise. I understand that you probably hate me right now. But can't you just forgive me? You don't have to like me, you just have to know that I regret drinking."

Mikey sighed. "Okay."

"Okay? You forgive me."

"I guess."

Gerard pulled Mikey up and into his arms. Mikey made a surprised noise, and hugged Gerard back a little. "But Gee, wait."

"Huh?"

"Can you promise me two things?"

"Yes! Of course. Anything."

"You'll never drink again-"

"Yeah, I won't ever-"

"And you'll work everything out with Frank."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't think there'll be many more chapters. 3 or 4? at least. maybe more, if i can think of anything else to add to the story. anyway, i hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to leave comments and kudos as they're always cool! <3


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its official- im in love with the pretty reckless. going to hell is an amazing album and im obsessed with it. ive had it on repeat for the last 2 days and its...just really good aha. 
> 
> anyway, im sorry for not updating in a while. my parents were re-decorating our house and i had to help out a lot and haven't been on my laptop half as much as usual. but WE FINALLY FINISHED so thankfully i can start writing again. 
> 
> also just a quick note- i go back to school on wednesday (3/9) so updates will probably be on weekends, unless i don't have homework then maybe weekdays. but im very close to finishing this story! there won't be more than 5 chapters after this one. thank you for reading this story so far, though. it means a load to me when i get kudos and people commenting on the story. thank you if you've done that, or even just reading the story. 
> 
> anyway, heres chapter 15, hope you enjoy!

Gerard had been restocking the comic books for almost an hour when Mikey dropped by the store. His brother was closely followed by Pete, who smiled at Gerard, and then walked to the other side of the store to look at something else. Mikey smiled over at Bob, who was doing something on the computer -  _probably playing his stupid game while I'm here doing actual work,_ Gerard thought- and then started handing his brother the comics from the box on the floor.  _  
_

"Have you spoken to Frank?" Mikey said suddenly, almost making Gerard drop the comic books in his hands. Gerard didn't reply- just putting the comic books back where they belonged- but once he'd finished, he turned to Mikey.

"No-"

"But Gerard, you promised!"

"-not yet."

 Mikey sighed, handing Gerard the last of the comic books, before taking the box they were in back over to Bob. "Take it out back." Bob said, and Mikey sighed, muttering something about how he should have a job here already, making Bob just roll his eyes at the youngest Way brother. Gerard walked over to Bob, and leant on the counter, waiting for his brother to come back. 

Mikey came back barely a minute later, and sat down on Gerard's stool behind the counter. "When was the last time saw Frank, anyway?" Mikey asked. Gerard thought about it for a few seconds- it couldn't have been more that two days, but then again, he didn't even know what day it was today, so he couldn't really guess when. He settled on just telling Mikey  _where he last saw Frank._

"I haven't seen him since you guys were at my apartment."

"Gerard, that was a week ago!"

Gerard's mouth dropped open. A  _week?_ It couldn't have been that long, could it? It surely didn't feel like it. But he hadn't slept since then, and the days just seemed to merge into one when he only slept a few minutes at a time. Mikey must have been lying to scare Gerard. 

"Jesus Christ, Gee," Mikey sighed. "You have to talk to him. The longer you leave it, the more awkward it'll get for you both."

"You're right." Gerard agreed. Mikey smiled, looking extremely happy with himself.

"I know, aren't I alw-"

The door opened, and Frank stepped inside, closely followed by Jamia. Gerard felt his heart sink, and he was sure the disappointment showed on his face. Gerard looked back round at Mikey, who was smiling at Frank, but Gerard  _knew_ his brother was just as upset as him. "Hey Gerard!" Jamia smiled, and waved at him. 

"Hi Jamia," Gerard could see Frank tense up a little, but he thought nothing more about it.  "I haven't seen you in a while, Frank."

"A week?" Frank asked. Okay, at least now Gerard knew that Mikey wasn't lying to him. 

"Something like that." Gerard agreed. 

"I just wanted to drop by to say hi to you, Gerard," Jamia said. "Frankie and I are gonna go to the park now. Anyone wanna come with us?" Frank's eyes went wide when she asked this, but he relaxed when everyone shook their heads, or said 'no, thanks'. Frank and Jamia left after that, allowing Gerard to breathe. Mikey and Pete also left after that too, but not before Mikey could remind Gerard to call Frank the moment he got home. 

"Of course." Gerard agreed. He'd promised Mikey, and so he knew he should do it. But right now, after seeing Frank with Jamia- he felt too nervous to do it. 

It soon came round to 6 p.m., and Bob locked up the comic book store, and Gerard started to make his way home. His phone felt like a weight in his pocket, dragging his whole body down towards the floor with it. The moment he got home, though, he chucked his phone on the couch, and went straight into his bedroom. He'd call Frank later, after he'd slept-  _if_ he slept. He flopped down on his bed, not bothering to change, and closed his eyes.

Thoughts raced through his head- how he hated himself, because Jamia was such a nice person, and he genuinely liked her, but liked-  _loved-_ her boyfriend even more. He thought about he was still angry at himself for drinking, and upsetting Mikey, where his brother forgave him or not. How he should work harder for Bob, because Bob was his  _friend_ as well as his boss and should have fired him ages ago but hadn't. And he thought about Frank. He wondered if he would have liked Frank even if he hadn't been in his dreams before they met. He decided that he probably would have.  _  
_

And within a few minutes, he was fast asleep.

* * *

 

_**The house is on fire. The house is on fire. The house is on fire.**  The thoughts swam around Gerard's brain, as he desperately searched for a way out of his parents basement.  **There was no way** , he soon realised. The only way out was through the tiny rectangle shaped window, but the only person that could get out of there was Mikey when he was 14. And Gerard wasn't Mikey. Nor was he 14._

_He choked on the smoke that was slowly filling up the room, and the only thing he could think to do was grab one of his t-shirts off of the floor, run into the bathroom, and soak the t-shirt in water. He ran back into his bedroom, and up the few steps to get back into the house. He put the the t-shirt by the gap under the door, cutting off some of the smoke that was seeping into the room._

_He then realised he was completely trapped. There was no where to go, no way out, no place he could hide and just be out of the way of the flames. He felt tears well in his eyes- whether from the smoke, or from how sure he was about his death now, he'd never really know. The only place Gerard could thinking to stay was in the shower in his bathroom._

_He grabbed another one of his t-shirts, and locked the bathroom door. He soaked the t-shirt, shoved it up against the gap under the door, and then sat in the bathtub. His plan was to hope that the fire would be put out before it got down to the basement, and he wouldn't be burned to death._

_And then he remembered his family. His mom, his dad, and Mikey were still there. Maybe they'd gotten out? He hoped so. But it was night. Maybe they were still asleep. Maybe they were dead already. Gerard held back a sobbed, covering his mouth, praying to God that his family were safe._

_He heard someone knocking on the bathroom door, and frowned. How was someone down here with him? Maybe the fire had already been put out, and his family were safe. "Gerard! Open the door!" But then he recognised the voice._

_"Frank? How did you get in here?" Gerard called. He climbed out of the bathtub, and quickly opened the door, and unlocked it. Frank was standing there, looking extremely red-faced and worried._

_"Through the window," Frank answered. He grabbed Gerard's wrist, tugging him out of the bathroom, and back into his bedroom. The window was now human-sized, both in height and width, and was level with the ground._

_Gerard jumped when he heard his phone starting to ring. He looked around, not seeing his phone anywhere, and instantly getting extremely annoyed by the constant repeat of Smashing Pumpkins._

_"You need to get that, it's important." Frank informed him._

_"How do you know?"_

_"Well, I'm pretty important." Frank said, with a smirk._

* * *

 

Gerard woke up, instantly hearing Smashing Pumpkins playing from somewhere in his apartment. He frowned, rubbing his eyes. He looked at his clock, seeing that was was already 8 p.m. He was surprised that he'd been able to sleep for so long already. He then realised that his phone was still ringing. He got out of bed, and made his way back into the living room where he'd left his phone. 

"Hello?" He said, once the phone was up against his ear.

"Gerard, I'll be up to your apartment in one minute."

"Frank?" Gerard asked. Why the fuck was Frank calling him. 

"Yes, have you not got caller ID? Just let me in when I get there." Frank's line went dead, and Gerard was left feeling extremely confused. He dropped his phone back down on the couch. He walked out to the door, and as soon as he got there, there was a knock. 

He opened it, and Frank was standing there. His face was bright red, and he looked worried, just like he had in Gerard's dream. 

"Frank?"

Frank lunged at him, shoving Gerard backwards into his apartment, their lips instantly connecting. They kissed for hardly a second, until Gerard pushed Frank back away from him. Not that Gerard didn't want to kiss Frank, but Frank wasn't exactly single. "Frank- stop- what about Ja-"

"I broke up with Jamia."


End file.
